EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 Architect Alex Metzger explained the timeline of the secure double entry construction project at the recent Board of Education work session.
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Over the past year, the district has been in the process of installing secure double entries at each school. Last summer, they installed entries at Cassens Elementary School, Goshen Elementary School, Liberty Middle School, Midway Elementary School and Worden Elementary School.
During the summer of 2025, secure double entries will be installed at Edwardsville High School, Glen Carbon Elementary School, Leclaire Elementary School, Woodland Elementary School, Hamel Elementary School, Columbus Elementary School and Nelson Elementary School.
“This upcoming summer, we are looking at doing the rest of the district, so that includes a light renovation at the high school, Glen [Carbon], Leclaire,” Metzger said. “Woodland will have a light renovation. In Hamel, we’re building a small addition. Columbus is a light renovation. And then Nelson, I’m lumping that in with this group because we are getting our secure entry out of that, but this is where we’re actually taking that office in the middle of the building and moving it to the front of the building and moving classrooms from that space. So it’s a larger renovation.”
BLDD Architects will partner with the district for the Nelson Elementary School renovation. The construction is estimated to cost $2,688,739. The project went out to bid on Nov. 12, 2024, and the bid opening is scheduled for Dec. 5, 2024.
Construction will begin on May 27, 2025, as soon as school is dismissed for the summer. Metzger expects substantial completion by July 31, 2025. Nelson and Hamel will require abatement.
Metzger explained that school safety officers (SSOs) will be stationed at each of the new double entries. The SSOs will then direct visitors to the main office at each building.
“The secure entries we’re doing next summer are all going to be the SSO entry, which means that the SSO will be sitting inside our secure vestibule,” Metzger said. “Either they will have direct access from there into the main office, or it is closely adjacent and you can get to the main office by going around the corner…A lot of [the designs] were dependent on the existing conditions and how that building was already functioning.”
