PW-S board approves contracts for school work worth millions

The Port Washington-Saukville School Board on Monday approved millions of dollars in contracts for a new elementary school and major maintenance work at its other schools, paving the way for what will be one of the busiest summer construction seasons in the history of the district.

The work is being financed by the $59.4 million referendum approved by voters in April 2025, and as the projects stand now, they are under budget by an estimated $760,361, although that is based on an estimated cost for a majority of the new Saukville Elementary School work because  the bidding process is ongoing.

“Right now, we are under budget by about $760,000, which is a good place to be,” Director of Business Services and Human Resources Mel Nettesheim told the board. “But we have not finalized the bids and we also have not started construction, and if anybody has done any sort of renovation, even on your home, you probably know there are unknown costs.

“Hopefully that $760,000 remains or gets higher and we are able to reinvest that in future improvement projects.”

The highlight of the referendum projects is the new $45.8 million Saukville Elementary School, and the board on Monday approved $11.6 million in contracts for the work. Bids for an additional $24.3 million in work on the school are expected to be presented to the board within the next two months.

The 91,000-square-foot school will be built on 10 acres at 2803 Orchard La. on the village’s west side and abut a residential area to the east and a nature conservancy to the west. The land, which was in the Town of Saukville when the School District purchased it from the Elda V. Bunk estate in July 2025 for $552,000, has since been annexed into the village.

The school will have a curved shape and be situated toward the rear, or west side, of the property. It will appear as a one-story building from the front, east-facing side, but have an exposed lower level on most of the west side that will provide views from classrooms of the largely undeveloped remainder of the school grounds and the 90-acre nature area owned by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.

The school will have a “two-story look from the back” with a “full exposure of windows looking out to the conservancy,” Mike McGraw, a partner and director of construction administration for Groth Design Group, the architectural firm designing the school, told the Village of Saukville Plan Commission in October.

“The views are going to be spectacular,” he said.

The north end of the building, where a full-sized gym and cafeteria will be located, has been designed with community use in mind and can be secured from the remainder of the school. The area will also include what the district is calling a community classroom.

“This essentially will be a space the community can rent out, maybe for something like the village’s winter farmers market,” Supt. Michael McMahon said.

It will also be used for before and after-school child care.

“Right now we’re using elementary school gyms for before and after-school care, and those sometimes aren’t the ideal spaces for that,” he said.

Classrooms, which will be grouped primarily in the south end of the building, will be organized in grade-level pods, with three classrooms and an open shared collaborative space in each pod.

Key to the traffic plan for the school is the improvement of Orchard Lane, which is currently a gravel road, to provide primary access to the school from Hillcrest Road to the north. Orchard Lane will remain in the town but the district will pay to improve the road and create a pedestrian and bike path along it.

The school will also be accessible from Bucktrout Street, but the Orchard Lane project is intended to reduce school traffic on the residential street.

Nathan Schieve, education studio director for Groth Design Group, presented a new set of renderings to the Board Monday that highlight the building’s modern design, use of windows and natural light and reflect what was described as a judicious use of color.

That, School Board President Sara McCutcheon said, is a refreshing departure from the existing school, where overuse of the school color has not helped the building’s aesthetics.

“I was so thrilled not to see everything be royal blue because I was having some nightmares about that,” she said. “I love the colors (in the new building).”

Construction of the school is expected to begin in spring and be finished by late summer 2027.

Renovations at the district’s other schools will be primarily done this summer. At Lincoln and Dunwiddie elementary schools they will include bathroom renovations, new windows and exterior doors, painting and installation of acoustic ceilings. A new air conditioning system will also be installed at Lincoln Elementary School.

The board approved bids totaling $2.1 million for work at Lincoln Elementary School and $1.86 million at Dunwiddie Elementary School.

Because of the work at Lincoln, summer school classes normally held there will be moved to Thomas Jefferson Middle School, where the majority of summer classes are held, and some seventh and eighth grade summer courses will be moved to the high school.

At the high school, which was the primary beneficiary of a 2015 referendum, bathrooms and exterior renovations will be done along with HVAC upgrades and new doors in areas of the building not addressed by the 2015 referendum. The board approved $2.2 million in bids for that work.

There will be no major work done at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, except for roof work, because that school is slated for either a compete overhaul or replacement funded by a future referendum.

Roof work will be done at all of the district’s schools excepted the existing Saukville Elementary School, and on Monday the board accept a $1.2 bid for the high school and a $585,000 bid for Dunwiddie Elementary School, both of which are under budget. Bids are still being received for roof work at the other two schools.

Because the majority of the roof at the high school will be replaced, work is expected to begin in April, while the other projects won’t begin until classes are over for the school year.

The contracts for the roof work are held by the district, unlike those for other work that are held by VJS Construction Services, the district’s general contractor. That will save the district money because it will not have to pay a percentage of the roof costs to VJS as a management fee.

Chris Coggins, project executive for VJS, said all of the bids accepted by the board Monday, except a $1.2 million proposal for masonry restoration at the high school, were the lowest qualified bids. Holton Brothers, whose bid was higher than the low bid by a “nominal” amount, was chosen because it is better suited for the high school project than other contractors that bid on the project, Coggins said.

Both McCutcheon and Nettesheim praised the team hired by the district to design and oversee the referendum projects, which in addition to Groth and VJS includes Buildings Solutions, the owner’s representative for the district.

“The position we’re in now is a direct reflection of the team we put together,” McCutcheon said. “Michael (McMahon) and I have talked about what a good decision it was to hire Building Solutions,” which has handled several aspects of the project, including Orchard Lane, “that would have been unmanageable for us.

“We’re in a really good spot now.”