SALISBURY — Rowan-Salisbury Schools officials approved new plans for reconstruction for the Knox Middle School and Overton Elementary campus that will feature a 3rd-grade through 8th-grade facility.

School board members approved the decision unanimously during their most recent meeting.

“The last time I presented, we talked about moving forward with a K-8,” said Dr. Jamie Durant, the RSS chief operations officer. “After further review of some programmatic needs in our district and staying within the budget of the $55 million that we have before us, we looked at some (other) options.”

Durant said the district’s goal is to create a pre-K focus at Overton Elementary School.

“That school would remain open as a pre-K through 2nd grade,” Durant said. “Then we would move forward with the construction of Knox Middle to serve our community as a 3-8 campus.”

The shift brought about some significant redesign efforts.

Paul Boney of the design firm LS3P explained what those changes will look like.

“We’re going to build a new 3rd grade through 8th grade for 850 students,” Boney said.

That breaks down to approximately 665 middle and 185 elementary school students.

“The fine print here comes to a subtotal of $44,663,055,” Boney said.

That total includes approximately $1,117,000 for demolition, $7,967,000 for site work and $35,577,000 for the academic building.

“We are very focused to keep this in budget,” Boney said. “There is $44 million in hard costs, about $2.2 million in escalation because, as all of you know, prices are going up. Since 2019, prices have gone up about 30 percent in the construction industry. Things are just hard to get. So, we try to buffer this project with the $2.2 million in escalation. Then there is about $8 million in soft costs.”

Soft costs include legal and design fees, testing, inspections, fixtures and furniture.

“(Soft costs cover) All the stuff that goes into making this a school,” Boney said.

The 3-8 facility would be two stories.

“It’s a simple floor plan that can be easily monitored,” Boney said.

On the first and second floors, classrooms are on the perimeter. The second floor has classrooms on the outside, along with some science classrooms and a media center on the inside.

Of the conceptual design presented at the board meeting, Boney said, “We have tried to be conscious of some of the history of this area. We think it will blend in very well,” adding that it would feature “mostly brick, with some stone accents, very simple windows (resulting in) lots of natural light in the classroom.”

Making ends meet was a primary directive for the designers.

“There has been a lot of work in a short amount of time to change a lot of things,” RSS School Board Chair Dean Hunter said. “We appreciate the hard work. There have been several meetings, and in our retreat, we learned a lot. You guys have done what we asked you to.

“We are limited budget-wise. That cannot be stated enough. We have been promised $55 million from the county and not a dollar more. We have had to drop back and punt a few times. I feel like the board and administration are confident in the direction we are heading now.”

Boney said that his firm’s next steps would be to move into the schematic design phase.

“We would be in full design mode to get this designed as quickly as we can so we can get it out to the market and cut down on that inflation factor that you are seeing everywhere,” Boney said.

Ordering items like mechanical units with longer lead times is important in keeping costs down. A few tests, like an asbestos study, need to be completed before demolition can begin.

“If all goes well, we will begin tearing down Knox,” Boney said.

He offered a timetable of Christmas to begin the demolition work on Knox.

“Hopefully, we would be under construction by summer of next year,” Boney said. “You (have) two years to build it and occupy it.”

School Board member Jimmy Greene added, “I would hate to delay it. I think it is a pivotal time in construction to move forward. With our students already dispersed, I don’t want to delay it.”

Durant’s recommendation to move forward with the planning was described as a “blanket” recommendation.

“The recommendation is to move forward with the 3-8 Knox project period,” Boney said. “That is going to incorporate a whole bunch of stuff that we will have to bring back to (the board) to get approved. One will be the demolition amount. We will be sending that out for bids. Then, we will have a schematic design in that process.”

Boney acknowledged that even with the authorization, the firm would be required to return to the school board at various “milestones” for renewed approval.

“I think I can speak for the board,” Hunter said. “We are excited about moving forward. As has already been stated, it’s been a long time coming.”