View of the new entrance on the south side.

New classrooms, gym, and fitness center addition on the southeast corner.

On Monday, December 2, the Goodhue School Board approved the bid received from general contractor Fowler and Hammer for the school building project. Five general contractors submitted bids for the project, and Fowler and Hammer was the lowest bidder with a bid of $21,540,000.

Todd Wetzel, Director for ICS Consulting, commented, “We were impressed with the level of interest from contractors on this project. We received a good number of bids and the lowest bid keeps the project on budget.”

Work on the project continues to move forward. Site preparation work on the east side of the campus has been completed, and during the winter break, an asbestos abatement project will be completed on the upper floor of the 1969 building. This is work that needs to be completed prior to demolition of that portion of the building in June.

Construction on the new gym and classrooms on the east side of the campus will begin once the ground thaws in the spring of 2020. This work will have minimal impact on this school year; however, during the summer, a large portion of work will be completed in the existing school building. Due to this, the school will not be accessible to staff, students, and community during the summer of 2020. At this point, plans indicate that portions of the building will be accessible during the summer of 2021, so only one summer of programming will be impacted by the construction project.

Plans are being made for the summer 2020 Wildcat Care program, summer school, camps, and other activities. Plans on the alternative locations will be shared once details are finalized. Community events will also be impacted by this, and individuals in charge of those events have been contacted so that alternative plans can be made.

For the 2020-2021 school year, temporary classrooms will be set-up in the new gym as work continues in other portions of the school building. At this time, no adjustments are being planned for the 2020-2021 school year calendar. It is possible that school will start one week later for the fall of 2021, which is the anticipated completion of the building project.

More renderings of the building along with floor plans can be found on the building project page at http://www.goodhue.k12.mn.us/district/building_project

If you have any questions, please contact Superintendent Evan Gough.