VERO BEACH — Construction on the replacement campus of Vero Beach Elementary is running smoothly and on time, according to School District officials. Next to the current school on 12th Street, a new set of classroom and administration buildings are going up.
“It’s on track for being done in May,” said Susan Olson, the School District’s director of facilities planning and construction.
The approximately $20 million project is meant to rebuild Vero Beach Elementary, which has problems with its electrical and mechanical systems and its roof. The school also needs a new and better lighting system, officials have said.
The School District’s administration has determined that renovating the current campus would not be cost effective and decided, with the School Board’s approval, to build anew.
To date, the tilt-wall construction of the various buildings has gone without a hitch and crews are beginning to paint the exterior. Though the buildings look like they are nearly done, Olson said much work is still needed on the inside, including the plumbing and electrical.
Olson explained that the tilt-wall construction style used by Proctor Construction consists of raising pre-fabricated walls as a shell – working from the outside in rather than inside out as is more traditional.
Olson said it is important for Vero Beach Elementary parents to realize that the playfields will remain – they are not being removed. However, due to the construction of the new campus, one field will be moved elsewhere on site.
Earlier this month, the School District moved its maintenance and purchasing departments off the property and into the new School Services Complex, clearing space on the Vero Beach Elementary site for the needed retention pond as required by St. Johns River Water Management District.
Olson credits the School District’s staff, administration and board for keeping the project moving, along with the contractors.
“They understand what the stakes are,” Olson said. “It’s absolutely essential to be open on time.”
Having construction done by May will give the district time enough to furnish the classrooms and offices and give teachers and staff time to get acquainted with the new buildings before school resumes in August.
The budget for the construction project is actually more than the $20 million cited, according to Olson, who explained that the district expects to get approximately $1.3 million back from government reimbursements and rebates from Florida Power and Light.
Because Vero Beach Elementary is a Title I school, meaning a larger portion of its population qualify and are on the free and reduced lunch program, the government will reimburse the district approximately $560,000 for the wiring, phones, and audio-visual equipment.
The school will use a thermal energy storage system, cutting on power costs and resulting in rebates from the power company.
Helping to add to the pot is the Education Foundation of Indian River County.
“She is a genius,” Olson said of the organization’s executive director, Cynthia Falardeau, who is working to attain grants for the elementary school.
The Education Foundation works independently from the School District, operating with private donations and funneling the money to where it is most needed.
“It really was a natural fit,” Falardeau said of working on behalf of Vero Beach Elementary. She explained that it is imperative that the school has the tools it needs to help its students be successful.
Falardeau said that a large portion of the elementary school’s population comes from homeless families, so not only can the school transform the lives of its students, but the families as well.
To that end, the Education Foundation of Indian River County applied for an Impact 100 grant, calling it “Achieving Our Green Dreams” – in keeping with the school’s environment savvy theme.
The foundation had hoped to receive the full amount of the grant in order to establish a couple gardens and a nutrition kitchen to teach the children and their families how to be self-sufficient.
Impact 100 funded $16,000 of the request as a runner-up in the grant cycle.
AT&T provided $2,000, which Falardeau said will be used to establish hydroponic and raised gardens.
The Education Foundation needs another $22,000 to get the first phase of the garden project underway.
Falardeau explained that some of the school’s families live in garages, without the ability to grow their own garden and produce their own food. A community garden, which is part of the foundation’s plans for the elementary school, would provide plots for those families to utilize.
In the future, Falardeau said she could see the children learning how to can fruits and vegetables and sell them at their own farmer’s stand at the school as a fund-raiser.
“It has lots of great applications,” she said.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Vero Beach Elementary gardening project or would like to donate to the cause is encouraged to visit www.EdFoundationIRC.org or call (772) 564-0034.
