BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Preliminary steps are being taken toward the construction of Bradford County’s next school.
Superintendent Will Hartley called the item “a big one” when introducing it to the school board during its June 17 meeting.
Harley asked the school board to approve Castaldi assessments for Bradford High School, Bradford Middle School, North Florida Technical College and the transportation department.
A Castaldi analysis is “a method of determining the economic feasibility of modernization of an existing facility and includes a detailed, comprehensive estimate of the costs of rehabilitation versus replacement.”
“This is for the newly proposed junior-senior high school with the technical college all in one location together,” Hartley said.
Board members unanimously approved the request without discussion.
Paul Stressing Associates — the architectural firm hired for Bradford Elementary School — will conduct all four analyses. They are required by the Florida Department of Education to obtain special funding for new facility construction.
According to Stressing, “This assessment will require a great deal of investigative field work in preparation for the actual assessment report and these efforts will be coordinated very closely with you and your staff so as not to disrupt the daily operation of the facility. … The assessment report will require photographic documentation of existing conditions to memorialize the conditions encountered and as a means of conveying to the State Review Committee the urgent need to recognize Bradford County’s needs.”
The cost of the analysis for each campus is $30,000, plus $20,000 for the transportation department, for a total of $110,000.
