Lawrence Township school district officials have awarded a $440,330 contract to install an elevator and make restroom renovations at the Lawrence Middle School.
The Lawrence Township Public Schools Board of Education awarded the contract to Dell Tech, Inc., which submitted the low bid for the project, at its Feb. 13 meeting.
Bids for the project ranged from Dell Tech’s low bid of $440,330 to a high bid of $495,000. Six contractors bid on the job.
Installation of the elevator at the grades 7-8 school is part of the $25.1 million bond referendum approved by voters in January 2018. The restroom renovations are needed to make room for the elevator.
The elevator installation and associated restroom renovations will be accomplished during the summer. The project had been scheduled for the summer of 2020, but it was moved up to this summer and will be ready by early fall.
Last month, the school board awarded contracts totaling $11.9 million to install air conditioning in the district’s four elementary schools, the Lawrence Intermediate School, the Lawrence Middle School and Lawrence High School.
Air conditioning has been added to classrooms, gyms, cafeterias and auditoriums in the schools over the past few years, and the bond referendum will cover the costs of installing it in classrooms and other spaces where it is lacking.
The bond referendum also earmarked money to replace windows and siding on the modular classrooms at the elementary schools, along with improvements to the stairs and ramps to those buildings.
There is money to install security vestibules at the main entrances to the Slackwood and Eldridge Park elementary schools, and at the Lawrence Intermediate School and the Lawrence Middle School. Security vestibules are in place at the other schools.
Business Administrator Thomas Eldridge told the school board last week that work on the projects is being done on time and “significantly” under budget. The only outstanding project that has not been awarded is one for new siding on the modular classrooms.
School district officials said the State of New Jersey will pick up about 40 percent of the tab for the $25.1 million bond referendum.