When it comes to bond projects, this summer has been a full schedule for Saline Area Schools. $45 million worth of work has been going on over the past few months. Some projects are nearly completed and some will continue into the new school year.

The work comes from the 2022 Saline Area Schools 10-year bond proposal, which is providing $180,000,000 for building and site improvements to address identified facility needs. 

The Sun Times News caught up with Rex Clary, SAS’s Executive Director of Operations, to see how things are going.

“Overall, the projects are running as expected both related to timeline and budget,” Clary said. “Any construction project is always impacted by the weather.  Some weather-related set-backs have tightened our timelines to bring the projects to completion by the start of the school year. In spite of those setbacks, we are hopeful that these will be accessible for our students at the start of the school year.”

One thing students will notice are the improvements made at the playgrounds. The K-5 Playground improvements are underway at Saline’s elementary and intermediate buildings (Pleasant Ridge, Harvest Woodland Meadows, and Heritage) to make playgrounds more accessible for all students, Clary said.

He said the playgrounds are expected to be usable by the start of the school year, but they still have some loose ends to tie up such as the need to replant grass seed in some areas.

“The playground improvements have allowed us to increase shade structures, and install more accessible equipment and pathways at all of our buildings,” Clary said.

The playground surfaces have also been upgraded. The playgrounds represent a huge improvement for Saline students with special needs, Clary said, allowing more students to utilize accessible play spaces with their peers. 

Over at Harvest Elementary School, construction continues on the replacement of the roof, parking lots, and drives. Clary said they expect this work to be completed by the start of the next school year. He said families will notice a redesigned bus loop and parent drop-off loop, creating safer routes for students.

At Saline Middle School a new roof has gone up and now they are getting the solar power installation in place. Clary said a roof replacement at the middle school was necessary as part of the regular building maintenance schedule.

“Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, we were able to capitalize on federal funds to offset the installation of a solar-integrated roof at the Middle School,” he said. “Once the roof is operational, we hope to see a significant cost-savings in electrical expenses, which will positively impact the general fund in the future.”

He said the roof replacement is complete while the installation of solar panels will continue on the roof through the start of the school year.

“We expect this will have a limited impact on student instruction,” said Clary. “The work is expected to be completed by October 1.”

And over at Saline High School, construction of the new additions began this past spring and will continue through the 2024-2025 school year.

“We expect to open the new SHS weight room and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) center at the start of the 2025-2026 school year,” Clary said.

This construction has necessitated the relocation of our main office from the front of the building to the east side of the building (by the auditorium), and will continue to serve as the primary location for any late student arrivals, parent pick-up/drop-off, etc, Clary said.

And finally over on Teft Court, the new SAS Operations Center is on-track to open later this fall, possibly by Nov. 1. Clary said this new building will house the bus fleet, transportation, and buildings and grounds departments. He said the relocation of these departments from the middle school to the Operations Center will open up important space at the middle school for Senior Center, STEAM Center, and Cosmetology Center renovations, which will begin the summer of 2025.

The Operations Center is also equipped to support electric school buses and the necessary infrastructure for electrical charging. Clary said SAS was able to secure two grants totaling over $1.6 million for the procurement of three new electric school buses and infrastructure.