Kenton City Schools Signs Guaranteed Maximum Price Agreement

A year of student, staff, and community planning for the new Kenton Middle/High School has produced exciting results that have been finalized through a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) Agreement with the Peterson Construction Company.

The board will finalize the agreement during its next regularly scheduled meeting, August 21st.

“The design and budgeting process has been a big undertaking for our school district that involved so many people,” said Superintendent Chad Thrush. “It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride from the excitement of passing the levy, to stressful budgeting during unprecedented inflation, and now knowing we will get most everything we had hoped for in this project. I just need to thank all of those who played a part in helping us design this building that will serve our community for so many years to come.”

Superintendent Thrush shared that through the board’s commitment of permanent improvement funds up to 1MM and an ability to utilize interest gained on the bond funds, the school was able to put most of the items marked as alternates back into the project. The biggest of those alternates was adding enough classrooms to include the 6th grade into the new building.

“Our focus has always been on the future, knowing that we want to construct the highest quality building with the resources available so it can serve our district as long as possible,” Thrush said.

With an emphasis on quality, it was announced several months ago that there was a decision to ensure the building would have block on all of its exterior/structural walls. Although some schools are now being built without a masonry structure, the KCS board has insisted on masonry for durability and safety. This decision along with adding the 6th grade classrooms has pushed the schedule back a few months. Therefore, the August/September 2025 move in date has been pushed closer to November/December.

“Although moving students/staff mid-year is certainly not ideal, we were not going to select inferior designs/products and end up with a building that will not stand the test of time. We were willing to bend on the schedule to get the highest quality building possible,” added Thrush.

There are a few items still left on the district’s “wish list,” but there is also the potential to use owner and construction company contingency funds near the end of the project. Most contingency funds are spent if a project runs into poor soil conditions at the site. However, there were very few soil issues when the elementary was built near that location and the core samples taken from the MS/HS building site look good. So, district officials are optimistic that even the remaining items will eventually be able to make their way into the building.

Superintendent Thrush added, “Overall, this was a big moment for our new middle/high school building project. Not only has this finalized the design and cost of the building, but you can also drive by the site and see excavation is underway.”