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BERNE – The nine soon-to-be kindergarten students came out like a train, holding hands and gazing at the hundreds of people gathered before them.
The phrases “21st-century learning environment,” “green features” and “design-build” meant nothing to them. All the students knew is they were standing in front of the new school they’ll begin attending next month.
These were representatives of South Adams High School’s class of 2022. As 4-year-olds, they attended the groundbreaking 16 months ago for the $20 million kindergarten-through-eighth-grade building, and they were on hand Wednesday to be the official ribbon cutters.
“Our children will spend many of their formative years here within the walls of these schools,” Bill Warren, Geneva’s clerk-treasurer, said. “This building will provide our children the best possible education.”
South Adams Community Schools is the first and only Indiana school district to take advantage of “design-build,” a different way of constructing buildings that allows officials to negotiate construction costs instead of taking the lowest bid.
Design-build allowed a team of school officials, an architect, and local construction and engineering experts to collaborate on the design and construction.
Gov. Mitch Daniels has been a supporter of the design-build concept and a frequent critic of excessive school construction. In 2005, Daniels directed the Department of Local Government Finance to impose a 120-day moratorium on any new school bond issue.
The K-8 facility replaces two buildings constructed in the 1930s: the old South Adams Elementary School, located across town in Berne, and South Adams Middle School, which was in Geneva.
The new K-8 building sits on the same property as South Adams High School.
The nearly 150,000-square-foot building has a capacity for 925 students and boasts green features such as shared space for K-12 students; a white reflective roof; and natural lighting. It also features enhanced technology, with one-to-one computer availability; 10 wireless laptop carts; and multiple computer labs.
Thursday’s dedication was an arduous process for Superintendent Cathy Egolf and the South Adams Community Schools board.
They voted in 2007 to use design-build, something strange not only to them but also to all school officials in the state.
The board was then faced with a remonstrance from taxpayers in 2007. South Adams won by 75 percent and was able to proceed with the project. It ultimately approved a $25 million project that also included renovations to the high school.
Egolf said the design-build process allowed South Adams to save 16 percent on construction costs. The only challenge Egolf can see is that the process makes her and the board more accountable and responsible for the building, since they made the direct decisions on how to design and build it.
“You could look it as a disadvantage or a real opportunity. We chose to look at it as a real opportunity,” Egolf said. “We are state-of-the-art, and we did it in the most cost-effective and the most efficient manner.”
