The summer construction projects at Lincoln Consolidated School will be taking on a new look after the Lincoln school board approved about $3 million in reductions, according to superintendent Ellen Bonter.

Bonter said the reductions were needed after bids for the various projects came in about $2.6 million over budget. Among the projects that were dropped were a four-classroom expansion to Brick Elementary School that was to cost $1.2 million, a redesign of the construction on the Lincoln High School auditorium that will save $800,000 and a number of projects that added to the original scope of work that were to cost $150,000. A number of smaller projects made up the remaining $450,000, Bonter said.

The new plan for construction will actually save the district about $400,000 and will still accomplish all the objectives taxpayers expected when they approved the bond to finance them, Bonter said.

“It’s all about being fiscally responsible and getting school opened on time,” she said.

Ellen Bonter

The summer construction projects are Bonter’s first challenge as superintendent of Lincoln schools, after taking over from the now-retired Lynn Cleary on July 1.

Originally, the construction projects slated for summer were coming in under budget so the district decided to add extra items on to their to-do list that was not in the original scope of work approved by taxpayers, she said. The projects that were added in, such as new windows at many of the school buildings, are no longer included in the plans.

Bonter said the original plan for the high school auditorium was to remodel it with additional bathrooms, dressing rooms and practice rooms. The plan also called for a total redesign of mechanical and electrical systems at the high school. In the new plan, the additional bathrooms have been scrapped and the mechanical and electrical systems will still be upgraded but with a cheaper alternative, she said.

“We’ve gone to something that won’t lose any functionality or any of the capabilities or capacities,” she said.

The committee decided against keeping the four-classroom extension to Brick in the plans after realizing the Lincoln Multi-Age elementary program would not need the four extra classrooms as they originally anticipated. Instead, the LMA program will stay at Brick for the 2011-12 school year and then move to Model Elementary School in 2012-13.

Some of the additional savings that made up the remaining $450,000 total came from not including projects that would have surrounded the four extra classrooms, such as a reconfiguration of Brick’s parking lot.

There was one more project added into the summer construction plans — Brick will be receiving a new fire suppression system.

“The new one is very much needed,” she said. “The board decided even though it’s not required by anyone, they wanted to go forward with a better fire suppression system.”

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.