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  La Porte ISD's Board of Trustees, Citizens' Oversight Committee and Facilities Planning Committee met in joint session on Dec. 3, reaching a consensus that a new Bayshore Elementary School should be constructed on its current site.

  Although no formal action was taken, Superintendent Lloyd Graham polled committee and Board members present, and support for a new facility was unanimous.  The Board of Trustees will consider the replacement of Bayshore as an action item at the Dec. 16 Board meeting, to be held at 7 p.m. at the LPISD Administration Building, 1002 San Jacinto St.  The Board and Administration also will receive public comment on Bayshore during the meeting.

  Bayshore, located at 301 Fairfield in Shoreacres, has been closed since Hurricane Ike, when the school was flooded by up to 16 inches of storm surge water.  Recovery efforts began immediately following the storm, and Bayshore students were relocated to five other LPISD elementary campuses when schools reopened on Sept. 29.

The meeting began with representatives from Perspectiva, the district's construction program manager, providing a status report on existing bond sales and construction projects from the 2005 bond program.  They also reported on project costs and up-to-date expenditures.

Following the presentation, Superintendent Lloyd W. Graham led the discussion about Bayshore, presenting the preliminary findings of Tellepsen Builders, L.P., and PBK Architects.  At its Nov. 11 meeting, the Board approved Tellepsen to serve as construction manager-agent and PBK Architects to provide architectural services for the estimation of repairs needed at Bayshore. 

The estimate included repairs necessary due to Hurricane Ike as well as required Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades and replacement of mechanical and/or building systems at the practical ends of their life cycles.

Graham explained that approximately $8 million would be needed to make the repairs at Bayshore that resulted from storm damage as well as to complete the ADA requirements and life-cycle replacements.  By repairing the school, he anticipated that Bayshore students could return to their building with the start of the 2009-2010 school year.  However, no reasonable amount of repairs or upgrades can raise the current elevation from 10 feet above sea level and alleviate future concerns about flooding, he said.

Graham added that the hard construction cost of a new elementary school with a capacity for 750 students would be approximately $15 million on a clean, green-field site.  When necessary soft costs (architectural/engineering fees, permits, furnishings and contingencies) are considered, the preliminary estimate totals approximately $18.5 million. The current Bayshore facility would need to be demolished and the site raised approximately four feet, with the cost estimated at $750,000, he said.

The majority of the cost of the construction of Bayshore could be covered by $10.3 million in unallocated funds and $2 million in funds allocated for Bayshore in the 2005 bond program, Graham said. 

In addition, FEMA dollars are being aggressively pursued by the Administration; however, when these avenues are exhausted, the Bayshore project will likely create the need for reallocation of a small portion of 2005 bond funds.

The new facility can be scheduled for substantial completion on Dec. 30, 2009, which would allow Bayshore students to begin classes in the new building in January 2010, following the winter break.

  "Our Board of Trustees, Administration and Staff, and citizens on our Oversight and Facilities Planning Committees recognize that we need to move as quickly as possible to provide our Bayshore families with a school in their area," Graham said.  "We believe that a new state-of-the-art educational facility will not only benefit our Bayshore students, but also provide the potential for consideration of elementary magnet programs and, furthermore, address our extended school family's desire to help our community heal."

  The current Bayshore facility has been the hub of the Shoreacres area since its construction in 1966.