District needs names for schools

As Clarkston school officials continue to monitor progress on bond-related building renovations, they have set deadlines for a new detail.
With plans to convert the two current middle schools into new buildings with a sixth-seventh and eighth-ninth grade configuration, the two buildings will need new names.
‘We should do that soon,? Superintendent Al Roberts said at the April 26 school board meeting. ‘These [current] names will start to stick, and we don’t want that to happen.?
The current names are Sashabaw Middle School and Clarkston Middle School (although architects have referred to it as Clarkston Junior High).
Plans call for the former to become a home for sixth and seventh grades, with the latter to house eighth and ninth grades, both beginning in fall 2005.
Board President Karen Foyteck said the board will consider suggestions in June and make a decision in July.
The discussion came during an agenda item in which consultants gave an update on plans for various renovations approved by voters in last year’s $84.7 million bond vote.
Bill Stewart, of the French Associates architectural firm, said ongoing cost estimate revisions have the total project at $84,474,398, about $275,000 over the original estimate.
That constitutes a one-third of 1 percent overage, Stewart said, and the norm for such projects is a variance of about 1 percent.
‘We are in excellent, excellent shape,? he said. ‘I couldn’t ask for anything closer.?
Following standard practice, officials established a ‘contingency? line item for the project to cover unanticipated building expenses.