MONROE — Local business E&N Hughes was selected by the School District of Monroe Board of Education for the first bid package to do earthwork and site utilities for the new MHS campus.
E&N Hughes, a longtime Monroe business, came in with a collective bid of $4,923,531 — about a half million under the initial budget estimate of $5.4 million. There were eight bidders in total, including Monroe’s Maddrell Excavating, and Integrity and Rock Road out of Beloit/Janesville.
“We had made a call out to our community that we were going to be looking for local contractors that were capable of doing the work, and it looks like E&N Hughes has stepped up and is the low-bidder, even,” Board president Rich Deprez said.
Rock Road was the second-lowest bid for the combined cost of earthwork and site utilities. Integrity was third.
“One fabulous thing was that there was a lot of bidder interest out here on this project,” said Tony Buss of CG Schmidt, the company managing the project. “Eight bidders on the earthwork package is just unbelievable. There’s a lot of people excited about this. ... It’s just fun to see.”
E&N Hughes is next door to the new 70-acre MHS campus on the city’s far east side, along the property’s south edge. It is a non-union business, but the district and project contractors CG Schmidt are able to make the agreement work.
Groundbreaking should start in mid- to late-May, according to District Superintendent Rodney Figueroa.
Todd Krcma, Chief Estimator at CG Schmidt shared further information on the timeline of the project, stating that the second group of bid packages will be sent out by the end of April. That bid package will include foundations, precasts, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection.
“Once we get through that bidding, we’ll have 60-70% of the project bid out and complete and ... we’ll be pretty well locked in on price at that point at the end of May,” Krcma said.
The third bid packages — finishes — will be sent out in June. Krcma said that the guaranteed max price (GMP) of the project will be known after the June packages are determined.
Michael Brush, lead architect with PRA, gave an updated digital rendering fly-through of the new campus. Exterior facings are now red, a few rooms inside the building were changed around (though there was no change in square footage to the building), the interior of the Performing Arts Center was shown for the first time, and the press box/concession stand at the football/soccer stadium was rendered into the schematics.
Currently there is not money in the budget to complete the concessions and bathrooms for the stadium. If enough dollars are saved elsewhere in the project, those areas could be completed. Private funds could also be donated to complete the building, similar to other area districts, like New Glarus, which is less than $400,000 of its first goal to finish its new athletic complex, having raised over $1 million to date.
Should Monroe’s new concession stand and restrooms not be completed by the time the stadium and school opens, spectators will have to walk inside the school to access those features. The route will take approximately 250 feet from the middle of the bleachers at the 50-yard line to get to the restrooms, which is about 30 fewer feet than the current distance from the middle of the home bleachers to the exterior restrooms at T.R. Holyoke Field.
The board then discussed its 5-year non-discrimination self-evaluation report and approved its CESA 2 contract for the 2024-25 school year. It also finalized Wednesday, May 10 as the date for the annual Monroe High School Senior Scholarship Awards Night, where over $100,000 in scholarships will be given out to graduating seniors to further their educations. Board president Rich Deprez and fellow board members Nikki Matley and Phil Vosberg will hand out the scholarships.
Abe counseling services update
Director of Pupil Services Joe Monroe tried to ease the questions from parents of Abraham Lincoln Elementary students by laying out some of the plan already developed for next school year, when the school will lose its full-time school counselor, who is transferring to the middle school. The move is a part of the more than $900,000 budget reduction plan the district approved last month.
“I just want to say ... publicly, that there is a lot of work that has been happening behind the scenes,” Monroe said. “I don’t want to speak for Sarah (Judd, Abe principal), but Sarah’s been working hard with Todd (Paradis, Director of Curriculum) and some the other principals to look at schedules and services and how we’re going to provide some of those supports. Not all of that has been communicated at this point, but it’s important to us that we’re meeting the needs of the students at all of our buildings.”
He said that other district counselors will be made available as needed, and that there will be a full-time school psychologist in the building.
“The plan is that we’ll utilize counselors from the other two elementaries,” Monroe said, which will include SELF classes. “We feel very confident that we’ll have plenty of support to meet the needs of our students at Abe Lincoln. It won’t be the same ... but the reality is we have a plan that is currently being developed.”
A discussion followed with board members asking follow-up questions with Monroe.
“We don’t have anything that guarantees that a school psych or a school counselor is always available at any minute of any day. The principals at the other buildings can tell you that that’s not always the case,” Monroe said. “We have elementary schools with over 300 kids, and then we have the middle school and high school. There’s a lot of needs.”
Monroe said he feels there’s a narrative in the community that questions what the district will do because there is not a counselor available at any given minute to respond to a student’s needs.
“We have a lot of students that are responsible for our kids, and we make sure that we have support for our school’s kids,” Monroe said. “It’s important to remember that the number of students at Abe Lincoln is significantly less than the number of students at the other elementary schools. ... Quite frankly, Abe Lincoln has the luxury of having a lot of time and support relative to the number of students they have — and that’s a good thing. I think that speaks to one of the reasons why Abe has been a successful school. But I think if we get caught up in this idea that someone needs to be available at a moments notice, for every student, that’s just not realistic. That’s just not how schools work. No school can guarantee that. What I can say is that we’re going to have a plan and appropriate support for our kids to make sure they get what they need when it’s necessary.”
Figueroa said the plans are still evolving and that the district will have a “solid plan in place” when the 2024-25 school year starts.
“We’re not ‘not’ having a guidance counselor at Abe. We’re going to meet what we have to do for the state — and probably exceed it like we normally do,” Figueroa said.
More staffing retirements, resignations
The board approved several retirements and resignations at the meeting. Executive secretary Cindy Rupnow is retiring after 46 years with the district. Also retiring is Sherry Atkinson, a Northside Elementary custodian for the past decade.
Staff resigning include Malika Jubeck, high school support staff EMNA; high school health aid Nicole Carlino; Northside special education teacher Katelyn Lindberg; and Abraham Lincoln speech and language pathologist Jennifer Newcomer.
Administrator contracts extended
After about an hour in a closed session to discuss administrator contracts and further negotiations with B&S owners for a potential north entrance to the new high school campus, the board came back to close out the meeting.
The board approved rolling 2-year contracts for all administration staff. There will be no change in compensation, and the contracts for each will go through June 30, 2026.
Administrative staff includes district superintendent Figueroa, Business Administrator Ron Olson, Director of Curriculum and instruction Todd Paradis, Director of Pupil Services Joe Monroe, school principals Jenna Trame (Parkside), Amy Timmerman (Northside), Sarah Judd (Abe Lincoln), Matt Brown (MMS), Jeriamy Jackson (MHS) and assistant principals Lindsay Dahmen (MMS) and Josh Wilson (MHS).
In regards to the northern entrance discussions, if the district and B&S can come to an agreement on a northern entrance to the campus property, it could be anywhere from 1,000 to almost 4,000 feet shorter than the initial County KK entrance. A northern entrance could potentially save a half million dollars or more. A traffic study completed last fall by Fehr Graham showed practically no difference in traffic volumes or patterns for building an extended road from 6 1/2 Street at 32nd Avenue to 8 1/2 Street versus the County KK alternative.
If an agreement is made for a north entry, then the $1.4 million County KK entrance would not be built.