February 13, 2013 - The Lindbergh Board of Education was set this week to consider awarding bids for the purchase and installation of locking hardware for all classroom doors at Lindbergh High School and Sperreng Middle School.
The Board of Education was scheduled to meet Tuesday night — after the Call went to press.
Board members voted unanimously Jan. 8 to seek bids for locking hardware for all classroom doors at the two schools — less than a month after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six adults died.
Locking hardware will be required for roughly 327 classroom doors at Lindbergh High School and Sperreng Middle Schools.
Once installed, all of the district's schools will have locking classroom doors, according to Executive Director of Planning and Development Karl Guyer.
In a memo to Superintendent Jim Simpson, Guyer wrote, "In addition to publicly advertising the project, a variety of applicable contractors were contacted to advise them of the project. Eighteen plan holders obtained the bid package and attended a mandatory prebid meeting held on Jan. 24, 2013.
"On Friday, Feb. 1, at 10 a.m. when bids were due, proposals were received from four contractors ..."
In his memo, Guyer recommended the Board of Education "approves the low bidder Comarco St. Louis Inc. for the installation of the door locks per bid requirements not to exceed $62,940 and the district purchase locksets and removable cores/keys from A1 Lock Co. for $98,128.25 for a project cost not to exceed $161,068.25 total."
Including the cost of the lock sets and removable cores/keys, other bids were:
• H&G Sales — $179,404.80.
• Waterhout Construction Inc. — $204,495.80.
• Beishir Security Systems — $223,094.89.
"In mid-March, as soon as door-strike plates arrive, work will be started on the existing door frames to cut rough openings and install the plates," Guyer wrote. "The installation will be performed by two workers during the hours of 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. each day. It is expected that all of the locks for both schools will be completed by the end of May."
At the Jan. 8 meeting, Guyer estimated the cost of the locking hardware at $650 per door for a total expenditure of $212,550.
At that meeting, Guyer noted the cost of the locking hardware is outside of the facilities operational budget, "yet because of the critical need, the work will be funded from district reserves."
