CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County Schools is getting closer to having the portable classroom buildings that housed Herbert Hoover High School students for seven years removed.
The Kanawha County Board of Education approved an $817,000 change order during a Tuesday afternoon meeting as part of its contract with Vesta Modular to remove the buildings that sit in front of Elkview Middle School along U.S. Route 119.
The portables were installed following the June 2016 flood that destroyed the Herbert Hoover building. The school system opened the new Herbert Hoover High School three weeks ago.
KCS Facilities Planning Executive Director Andrew Crawford told the board that when negotiations started with Vesta Modular the price to remove the portals was $2.3 million. He said they’ve been able to agree on a price of $1.4 million.
“We have 600-thousand dollars in the (previous) contract so the remainder is (the change order amount),” Crawford said.
Removal of the portables will include the removal of 600 concrete piers that were installed when the portables were constructed. Crawford said Vesta Modular will also be required to put down new asphalt in front of Elkview Middle School.
Vesta Modular was called Innovative Modular when the school board agreed in November 2016 to the installation cost of $6.4 million. There was also a $45,615 monthly rental cost. The units were installed by the end of April 2017.
Hoover and Elkview Middle students attended school for half days in the Elkview building for most of the 2016-17 school year as the portables were getting reading. They were used for the full school beginning in August 2017.
The school system also has portable buildings at Bridge Elementary that were added after Clendenin Elementary was destroyed in the flood. Those will be removed once the new Clendenin Elementary, which is under construction, opens.
The school board also approved during Tuesday’s meeting a $4.6 million contract with Darnold Mechanical to make HVAC renovations at Anne Bailey Elementary School in St. Albans. Federal funds will pay for the project.