Construction underway at Lincoln Elementary

Construction crews started work to add a parking lot, upgrade the playground and install a geothermal HVAC heating system at Lincoln Elementary School as soon as school let out last month.

District Business Manager Jeff Dieleman said the timing of the school’s construction needs overlapped this summer.

“The parking needs were just really apparent, we want to get people off of our streets,” he said. “We had some grant funds for the playground, and we have sales tax revenue to do the heating system. We’re working on the heating system because that boiler was on the end of its life.”

While playground and parking lot work is expected to finish by the time classes resume in the fall, Dieleman said the heating system wouldn’t come online until roughly October.

“It's a huge project, we’re doing heating in the entire building,” he said. “It’s just not possible to start that on June 1 and be done by August, it’s just too much work. We’ll get all the things done that make things hard for kids to be in the school building, and then we’ll polish off the rest in August and September.”

The district worked to ensure construction would be minimally disruptive in classrooms. The school board voted unanimously to purchase pipes for the heating system in April, an effort to minimize the wait time before contractors could start work.

“In order for us to get this project done, we needed to do this,” Superintendent Willie Stone said at an April 14 board meeting. “We had to buy it separately. Otherwise, you’re waiting for the company to bid it, accept the bid, and then order it after they’ve accepted the bid.”