Glasgow School Board members: Dr. William Thornbury, Mary Burchett-Bower and Amelia Kiser look on as photos of the new South Green Elementary School construction project are presented at a board meeting held Monday, Oct. 17, 2022.
(JORDAN SMITH/WCLU NEWS)
BY JORDAN SMITH, WCLU News
GLASGOW — The Glasgow School Board met in regular session Monday evening. The highlight of the meeting, once again, was an update on South Green Elementary School’s construction project.
Tommy Gumm, CEO of Alliance Corporation and Allison Cummings, associate principal with Sherman Carter Barnhart Architects, were both on hand to inform the board members of the building’s progress.
Cummings would present the board with photographs showing updates to the construction site. That was the first time the board had seen a visual progression since early June.
“I’m sure you have driven by [the building] and seen it. It is obviously coming well-up out of the ground and really starting to take shape,” Cummings told the board. “It’s a very exciting time right now!”
The ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) of the gymnasium’s exterior wall is complete. The south wing of the building, or the classroom wing, also has ICF installed up to the second-floor level. The front entrance of the new school building is also beginning to take shape.
“The steel framing is being installed,” Cummings said. “This is also the elevation where we will have the canopy that comes up and out.”
Workers have poured concrete slabs on the second floor of the new school building and the ICF walls are starting to take shape with steel framing being installed toward the north end near the media center. The media center, offices, and cafeteria are also beginning to take form.
Most of what the school board heard regarding the construction of South Green Elementary was positive. Unfortunately, Alliance Corporation did present them with some familiar bad news, stating that they are, once again, under concrete allocation due to another nation-wide shortage of cement. Fortunately, the entire interior of the building already has the concrete poured, outside of the media center.
“From that standpoint, we are fortunate,” he told the board. “We will backlog concrete for a couple of weeks. I’m told it’ll be at least two weeks before we’re ready to pour the slabs out and the other concrete items in the media center. That should not cost us any time.”
Another problem Alliance is facing is something most of Corporate America is familiar with: a lack of help.
“Due to some manpower issues with the masonry contractor, we have slipped between a week and two weeks of being able to get our roof on [the school building],” Gumm said.
When asked whether the school building could still be finished on time, Gumm said it really depends on the impending winter weather.
“We’re just at that stage, right now, where we need to get the roof on and get closed in,” he said. “All roofing components have a certain temperature range where you can install it and still be warranted. What we are hoping for is a good November to get the building dry so we can put up some temporary windows to keep things moving.”
Gumm stated that he hopes to have a more definite answer to when the building might be complete during next month’s board meeting.
