Pierz School Industrial Tech Remodel Includes Major Changes | Morrison County Record

Supt. George Weber updated the Pierz School Board, May 25, about the industrial tech remodel, which will occur sometime in the near future.

“I spoke with our architect to following up on generating some more artistic type renderings of some of the spaces,” Weber said.

While that may take some time, he said, Weber said he thought it would be good to have to share with the public.

The overall remodel includes a variety of major changes. In the wood shop, the plan is to take out the storage room walls and turn the wood shop into a larger classroom. The plan is also to add an addition to the north side of the wood shop for storage and to move the compressor, which is currently in one of the storage rooms, he said.

Other remodeling that is included in the plan for the wood shop is to buy a new dust vacuum system and reconfigure all the duct work for all the machines serving the new vacuum system, he said.

Once the wood shop remodel is completed, the room and the equipment will be rearranged to create capacity to add equipment over time, Weber said.

When it comes to the welding shop, Weber said, the plan is to add on to the north side of the welding shop out to the east to where the current fence is and wrap it around the current overhead doors.

“This will allow for storage to be on the north side and then cutting, plasma cutters and a new venting system will be in the east addition,” he said.

The ductwork in the welding shop will also be reconfigured to create better removal of exhaust from welders and equipment.

The plan is to buy and install a new roof top HVAC unit to serve the heating, air and fresh air intake for both the welding and wood shops.

Another overhead door will also be added to the welding shop, Weber said.

The wall between the ag classroom and another classroom will be removed to create more space. Larger windows alongside the wall will also allow for more light to penetrate the room from the south.

“Some of the work with sinks and counters in one side of that space has already been completed,” he said.

Some of the other areas that will be a part of the remodel includes the tech and special education classrooms. The tech classroom will also be the home for much of the school’s technical equipment, such as 3-D printers, a laser engraver and computer design stations. The new special education classroom will also be constructed in an area where school vans and other vehicles are parked. In addition, the classroom will have its own restroom and a small room for sensory time, Weber said.

Weber said that construction costs are very volatile at this time.

“The projected costs from this winter were estimated at $3.4 million. The actual low bids received on May 12, came in at about $4 million,” he said.

Weber said that the district will be using Minnesota Department of Education approved lease levy authority to account for about $2.4 million of those costs. In addition, the district was able to use $350,000 in federal ESSER dollars to support the HVAC equipment used in the project. The remaining costs will come out of the district fund balance dollars, Weber said.

“We are lucky to have all of this come together and proceed with this project without any added referendum funding,” he said.

In other business Wednesday, May 25, the Pierz School Board:

• Approved the following donations — from the Pierz Firemen’s Relief Association, $600 to the clay target league; $600 for music; and $600 for boys golf; for FFA, $375 from Buh Township; $1,000 from the National FFA Foundation; $26 from Holy Trinity; and $194.35 from the Minnesota Association of Future Farmers; $500 from Scott and Stephanie Gall for track and field; $200 to the clay target league and $200 for FFA from the Lake Sullivan Association; for track and field, $250 from Chad Poser Construction LLC; $100 from Kasper Drywall and Paint LLC; and $200 from Shelly Hanneken; $1,000 from the Pierz Lions Club for the lunch program; for community education, $200 from Roosevelt Township; $200 from the city of Buckman; and $160 from Loidolt Lumber;

• Approved hiring the following pending a criminal background check — Noah Boser as full-time substitute teacher; Jayne Hotaling, high school art teacher; Audrey Aspen, elementary music teacher; Matthew Olsen, high school English teacher; Kimberly Jones, high school English teacher; Cindy Pulak, elementary computer lab supervisor; Michael Nezerka, elementary teacher; and adding .11 FTE for Nicole Gulden, speech pathologist;

• Approved the child care leave request of Whitney Wagner, beginning May 2 through the remainder of the school year;

• Accepted the resignation of Briana Rademacher, full-time substitute teacher;

• Approved the following staff for summer school services — Theresa Lahn, driver; Ron Grittner, driver; Tiffanie Luschen, teacher; Amber Swarthourt, teacher; Wendy Kapsner, paraprofessional; Jill Hoheisel, teacher; Jessica Jones, bus aide; Jason Lease, driver; Hailey Kurtz, teacher; Cindy Pulak, paraprofessional; and Melissa Barzdis, paraprofessional;

• Approved the Q-Comp annual report;

•Approved the property and casulalty insurance in the amount of $110,208 with EMC Insurance Company; workers compensation insurance amount of $68,645 with SFM Insurance Company; and cyber insurance in the amount of $4,990 with Beazley Insurance Company for a total of $183,843 for the 2022-23 fiscal year;

• Approved the transportation contract between Pierz ISD 484 and Megan O’Neil for the remainder of the 2021-11 school year; and

• Approved renewal of the district’s membership in the Minnesota State High School League.

The Pierz School Board’s next regular meeting will be Wednesday, June 29, at 6 p.m. in the high school media center.

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