Parks & Rec basketball players use the new Hopkins School gym last month. PHOTO/JERRY SPAR

The School Committee on Thursday approved several items that widen the scope of the Hopkins School project.

The addition portion of the project was completed and turned over in December, two months early, giving Vertex (owner’s project manager) time to look at additional work that can be done, said Carly Collamore, project manager.

She noted there is $4.6 million in construction contingency available, although there is approximately $1 million pending in change orders. In addition, $1.3 million has been reserved for specific use.

The largest item (not to exceed an estimated $1.8 million) would repave Loop Road around the site and replace existing sidewalks. It does not include repaving the existing parking lots, Collamore explained.

Member Chris Masters questioned why only one bid was used to come up with an estimate and asked if he was the only one concerned about that. Masters said he would like to get additional bids when the time comes to contract the work.

The Vertex representative said the bid was derived by the existing subcontractor (Welch) on the site that worked on another portion of Loop Road. The thought was to avoid having two subcontractors on that single site.

The Loop Road replacement was approved by the committee.

Floors, bathroom partitions among work

The other items, also approved, were full flooring replacement (not to exceed $547,453) throughout the existing building, including classrooms, administrative offices and corridors. These would involve areas that were not already done as part of the addition.

The goal of including this work is to have uniformity and cohesiveness throughout the building, according to Susan Rothermich, assistant superintendent of finance and operations.

Expanded scope for bathrooms included replacing tile floors (not to exceed $120,000) and existing toilet partitions (not to exceed $69,404) to match what is in the new addition.

Rothermich said students have been avoiding using existing bathrooms because of their conditions and going to the ones in the new addition.

Collamore noted the initial thought was to re-grout the tile floors, but the cost is the same to replace them. “It’s their time,” she said.

For additional furniture replacements (not to exceed $125,000), the scope expands to reconfigure rooms and administrative spaces and include the media center and book room.

Originally, $575,000 was budgeted for furniture, and the $125,000 is the estimated overage cost, explained Collamore. To replace all furniture would cost $224,000 — which was not voted on and may be revisited later.

“We want to take away the have and have nots,” Rothermich said, by making the building promote a culture of equality.

As students move and desks are swapped out, the district is trying to avoid a “yard sale” look, Rothermich said.

School Committee chair Kyla McSweeney noted that tackling these scope projects now means the district will not need to go back to the town and ask for capital funding in the future. .

With the additional scope work approved, $674,205 was forecasted to remain in the construction contingency account, Collamore said.

Measles presentation given

In other business, Shaun McAuliffe, the town’s health director, and Simone Carter, public health nurse, gave a presentation on measles and the importance of vaccinations.

McAuliffe assured the committee that despite rising cases of measles around the country, Hopkinton is in good shape and at low risk for the disease.

Carter noted that nine out of 10 unvaccinated individuals who are exposed to measles get sick. She said herd immunity requires a 95% vaccination rate.

Hopkinton has a vaccination rate above 95%, mainly in the 98% to 99% range, using the latest data, the health officials said.

Post exposure, Carter said people who are unvaccinated or unsure should call the doctor and get an MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) shot within 72 hours to combat the illness.

Carter added that measles is much more than a rash. She said it can cause neurological damage and harm the reproductive organs of males, “and kids can die.”

McAuliffe and Carter said they work closely with school nurses on getting data and contact tracing, and there are two per diem nurses they can deploy rapidly when needed.