Sarasota News Leader

08/01/2014

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Sarasota High (SHS) will be. … I blame the vast majority of that on asbestos abatement." The district budget set aside $800,000 for that work in two campus buildings designed by internationally known architect Paul Rudolph, Lempe said — Building 4, which has served as the administration center, and Building 5, the West Gym. As of June 17, the asbestos abatement had just been completed on Building 4, he continued, and the total expense was about $1.6 million. "We found asbestos in the stucco," he told the board, "and that building has stucco on the entire exterior" as well as in its iconic "sun shades." Lempe added, "And [workers are] taking it off with a hammer and chisel and then having to repair the concrete and go back up with a finish that makes it look like Paul Rudolph designed it." With work not yet under way on the West Gym, Lempe estimated the expense for all the asbestos removal in that building would be about $500,000. "Those two things are going to cause us to bust that budget," he said, referring to the $40,356,146 then set aside for the project. In the 2014-15 tentative budget materials Deputy Chief Financial Officer Al Weidner presented to the School Board last week, the amended budget for the rebuilding of Sarasota High was listed as $42,367,288. The completion of the work is expected during the 2015-16 school year. Board Chairwoman Jane Goodwin told Lempe that, based on her experience with construc- tion projects, she always figured on a total about 20 percent higher than the original esti- mate because of "unplanned consequences." Regarding the Sarasota High project, Goodwin added, "It could have been worse." "You don't think about finding [asbestos] in stucco," Lempe replied, noting that staff thought before the work began that the $800,000 estimate for the asbestos removal was too high. "That's a lot of money." The School Board dealt with controversy in 2012 as it planned for the rebuilding of Faculty and staff at the rebuilt Booker High School campus in Sarasota welcomed community members for a celebration earlier this year. Photo courtesy Sarasota County Schools Sarasota News Leader August 1, 2014 Page 13

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