By JODI WOLFE
Staff Writer

The Allenstown School Board is working on putting together the final proposal for addition to Allenstown Elementary School.

The proposal would also include renovations to both the elementary school and the Armand R. Dupont School. The school board met with Ross Currier of Conneston Construction Inc. and Kurt Lauer of Lauer Architects to go over the current plans and additional changes and costs from the plans from two years ago.

Currier and Lauer estimated a 13.5 percent increase from two years ago, making the current estimated bond cost $3,260,000 with the cost per square foot being $110.92.

The school board expects to receive 60 percent reimbursement in state aid.

Currier and Lauer told the school board that both the steel and wood markets have increased greatly and will continue to increase from now until the addition is built.

However, when the school board buys the bond, it will be locked into the price, Currier said at the meeting. If the proposed addition were to pass in March of 2005, the school board would put the project out for bidding in June and then the cost would be locked in, said Chairman Lou Conley.

Currier recommended that the school board add another 10 percent of the $3.2 million to the bond to cover the increase in costs, which would be $260,000.

The board sent Currier and Lauer back to determine the best educated cost estimate for the bond.

“Right now, we’re trying to decide: Will 10 percent be enough to cover that increase in cost?” said Conley.

During the Nov. 16 meeting, the board discussed a number of additional costs presented by Peter Aubrey, business adminstrator for SAU 53.

He said attorney’s fees, insurance fees and bond banking fees need to be taken into consideration, and suggested that the school board see if they would have to pay any fees to the town for the construction.

Aubrey recommended that the school board notify the planning board, check the environmental impact, do a historical review and traffic study, and a code inspection. The board also discussed renovating the kitchen at the elmentary school, which serves both schools.

All the food is prepared at the elementary and brought over to the Dupont School, which is only equipped with warmers.

Allenstown Elementary School Principal Terri Kenny told the board the school’s freezer is getting old and should be replaced.

To prepare for the next meeting, Kenny will have a professional check to see how long the freezer would last and if the freezer needs to be replaced.

“We’re trying to be as cost effective as possible,” said Conley.

If items such as the freezer need to be replaced, it may be more cost effective to add to the addition because it would be reimbursed by the state and that would offset the cost, Conley said.

“If we can include the costs into something the state will fund, we should include it,” he said. The members of the school board also discussed updating the security system in both schools and possibly getting a card key system for school personnel, which would allow the system to change codes quickly if a key was stolen.

Installing a card key system at the elementary school during the addition when the walls would already be open could prove to be more cost effective than installing that system at the Dupont School, which would not be open, said Conely.

Armand Dupont School Principal Betsey Cox Stebbins will look into the costs of rekeying the two schools as well as installing a card key system.

Kenny also said during the meeting that there could be a problem in the future if the elementary school grows from 260 students to 400 or 500 students.

While the number of students has gone down in the past two years, more two- or three-bedroom houses are going up, which could bring more students into the schools, said Conley.

“(However) the addition is to provide space for what we need now. Right now both schools are filled to capacity,” he said. “Right now if we had to add another class, something’s got to give.”

The next school board meeting to determine the final cost will be Thursday, Dec. 9, at Allenstown Elementary School at 6:30 p.m.