Mrs. Doherty's class takes part in the groundbreaking ceremony.

NEW FACILITIES BIG NEWS FOR "THE BIGGEST LITTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT IN MICHIGAN."

Project Overview

Name: Mar Lee School District
Location: Marshall, Michigan
Project Type: Renovation / Expansion
Square Footage: 27,485

The Mar Lee School District’s brand new gym, computer lab, art room, and several other major improvements were certainly made possible through a bond. Yes, local residents had to approve the $2.1 million dollar expenditure, but that’s not the bond we’re talking about. The most important “bond” involved here is the one between the Mar Lee School District and the community it serves. “I’m just so pleased with the voters in our community,” said Bill LeTarte, Superintendent of the Mar Lee School.

With about 310 students, Mar Lee is the largest K-8 school district in the state of Michigan. And while it has often been approached to merge with larger, neighboring K-12 districts, the intense pride felt by the community and the close working relationship it has with the school has inspired it to resist such efforts.

“You just couldn’t ask for better parent involvement and neighborhood support than we have here,” LeTarte added.

The school district opened in November of 1963, in an area that had been served by eight one-room schoolhouses in the early 1960s. The district’s single school building, Mar Lee School, has had a couple of modular classrooms added in recent years. But the need for physical improvements and updating to the 21st century had become increasingly clear in recent years.

A citizen’s committee recognized the clear need for a new, larger gym / multipurpose room and other improvements, and helped set the process in motion. Once again, the close ties with parents and the sense of ownership felt by the community were significant factors.

“The school board took a very proactive approach,” according to LeTarte; district residents approved the required funds in November of 2005. The plans were quite elaborate. In addition to the new, regulation–sized gym (complete with bleachers and changing rooms), they included new band and art rooms, an expanded media center, renovated science room, a kitchen area, and more.

The Mar Lee School District chose CSM Group for the project, based on feedback from other school districts for which the company had served as Construction Manager. CSM Group had also helped with preliminary studies for a new gym a few years earlier.

Planning was critical, as the work had to be completed during one summer, after students left and before they returned in September for the new school year. But timing was excellent; bid prices came in lower than anticipated, freeing up funds for additional upgrades in each classroom. CSM worked closely with the designer, CCDWAE, in phasing the design and bidding to allow long-lead items to be contracted early to ensure delivery when needed. The project schedule was developed and managed in great detail to ensure everything would arrive and work according to plan— there was no “float” or extra time available, and the district had no other facilities to fall back on if things did not go according to plan.

Thanks to the depth of planning, the work went smoothly, and the renovated building opened as scheduled on September 5, 2006. An Open House drew over 600 people from the community to inspect the results, and according to the Superintendent, everyone in the community, along with the students and the teachers, is delighted.

“The building looks fantastic, the community is very positive about what we have done, and although we had a very tight schedule we opened on time,” LeTarte said proudly. “And without the support of all the staff at CSM it would not have been possible.”

CSM Group is grateful for the kind words, and proud to be a part of strengthening the already strong bond between the Mar Lee community and “the biggest little school district in Michigan.”