To: High School Students and Parents
Fr: Dr. Matt Gibson, Superintendent
Re: Anticipated Construction at Brookfield Central and Brookfield East
Background - Following passage of the April 1 referendum, the district refined the Central and East site plans and elevations for Board of Education approval on May 27. The City Plan Commission approved them on July 7 prior to public hearing and Common Council action in August. After a series of meetings with principals and department heads, the district has also been refining schematic designs (floor plans), and they are scheduled for Board of Education action on July 28. It has been a productive summer.
Periodic Updates and Contacts - This is the first update that you will receive over the course of the next two years (see construction schedule on back) to advise of construction changes. The athletic and activity directors will be school communication contacts.
You may also go to www.elmbrookschools.org, visit your school’s website, and click on “Construction News” for latest updates.
Brookfield Central Construction Updates for August/September 2008
- Accessibility - Parts of Central will be under construction in August/September to provide partial handicapped accessibility to all floors except the lowest level. An east/west ramp is being constructed to connect the middle floors, and a lift is being installed in the library area to connect the top floor. Initial restroom accommodations will also be completed by the time school starts.
- Parking – While parking will be the same when school starts, it will change shortly thereafter. The rear lot will remain open until the front lot is constructed with preliminary surfacing. When the front lot opens, much of the rear lot will be closed. No loss of student parking spaces is projected during this transition.
- Bus Access – The front of school loop will remain open for bus access.
Brookfield East Construction Updates for August/September 2008
- Lilly Road Access – Prior to August 15, access in only from the west on Burleigh. By August 15, the City projects Lilly Road to be open with preliminary surfacing. There will be one lane in and two lanes out (left and right turn) of each Lilly Road access.
- Parking and Bus Access – No changes are projected for August/September.
Safety and Communication – The operational goals during construction are to provide safety and as little disruption as possible to student learning. An essential step in achieving these goals is proactive communication, starting with this introduction. Thank you for your patience and cooperation during the construction progress.
The following schematic drawings are scheduled for Board of Education action on July 28, 2008.
The latest exterior renderings for Brookfield East and Brookfield Central have been released. You will need Acrobat Reader to view these files.
The Public Policy Forum organization’s highest honor, the 2008 Award for Government Transparency/Ethics, was presented to the School District of Elmbrook at the group’s 16th Annual Awards Presentation, “Salute to Local Government” on Thursday, June 19, 2008. This award is based on the manner in which the Board of Education and district responded to the failed 2007 high school facilities referendum, and the corresponding manner in which the community responded in passing the 2008 referendum.
After the failed referendum, the district reached out to former no voters to ask for their help in studying high school facility needs and recommending a construction plan that would satisfy those needs yet meet them at an amount that the community might support. A team was formed of four former no voters and three former yes voters. It met weekly for over six months. The meetings were all noticed to the public and were recorded for repeated playback on the district’s cable television channels.
In many respects, the meetings were a public negotiation of needs versus wants that resulted in a plan that was $46-million dollars less than the failed referendum, and that reduced the proposed project size by 90,000 square feet at Brookfield Central and by 70,000 square feet at Brookfield East.
While the spirit of the public negotiations was adversarial at times, it became evident that many no voters wanted a plan they could support based on needs and that was credible to them. It also became evident that many yes voters realized the need to work not just with supporters but with the entire community to shape a plan that would have the ability to be embraced and succeed.
Voters approved the referendum by a 52-48% margin and by doing so not only approved plans to expand and upgrade both high schools, but also produced a new sense of community among many who had previously held divergent views.
The School District of Elmbrook extends it appreciation to the Public Policy Forum and once again thanks the community facilities teams and the electorate for this success.
On Tuesday, July 8, 2008 the High School Building Committee, School District of Elmbrook, will be receiving schematic design cost estimates on the renovation and addition projects at Brookfield Central and Brookfield East for which funding was approved on April 1, 2008. The High School Facilities Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. on July 8 at the Central Administrative Offices, 13780 Hope Street, Brookfield, WI.
These cost estimates will include the specified building projects as well as alternate items. An example alternate item, which could be considered pending overall cost estimates being within budget, is removal of the concrete risers from the Brookfield Central band room to achieve a flat floor, which is the specification of the band room at Brookfield East that is being relocated to a portion of the existing gym space at East. This Brookfield Central request came from staff as part of the user input process that occurs following the referendum to refine conceptual plans into construction drawings.
Following consideration of cost estimates by the High School Building Committee on July 8, the Board of Education will discuss them at their regular meeting on Tuesday, July 15, 2008. The Board is projected to act on the overall schematic design package including cost estimates, which may include reductions in some areas and additions for alternate items in other areas, at a special board meeting scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Monday, July 28, 2008. Both meetings will be held at the Central Administrative Offices, 13780 Hope Street, Brookfield, WI.
The approved schematic design package on July 28, while not the final costs, will provide the basis for design development, construction drawings, and competitive bidding on the trades. Partial handicapped accessibility at Brookfield Central is projected by the time school starts this fall, and footings and foundations for the new gym space is projected to begin in October 2008.
Questions may be directed to Superintendent Matt Gibson at 262-781-3030 x 1123 or Owner’s Representative Rob Stieg at 414-276-4634.
Plunkett Raysich Architects has released the latest floor plans for the High School Construction project. They are available here as PDF files. You need Adobe's Acrobat PDF reader to open these files.
Minutes for the May 20th 2008 High School Facilities Building Committee are available.
High_School_Comm-5-20-08_Minutes.pdf