Preliminary appraisals in for Eastern
Check out today's story on what insurance adjusters for the state and district have agreed to in this stage of their negotiations about Eastern Guilford High School.
Today I spoke to Eileen Townsend, chief of insurance with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, and she said that the district should not expect significantly more than $14.2 million on an offer for the damaged building. The state still needs to come up with a figure for Eastern's contents (appraised last year at $1.6 million) before making a final offer to Guilford Couty Schools.
"We're not going to push them (the district) into a final offer until their comfortable with it," Townsend said.
These numbers put into better perspective what the district could expect. School board member Garth Hebert said the $14.2 million was close to what he expected on the building.
Some potential good news for schools statewide: Townsend said DPI has requested from the state Board of Education that it raise the sublimits on increased cost of construction (i.e. code changes) to $1 million (currently $100,000) and business income and extra expense combined to $1 million (currently $600,000 total) at no cost to school systems. Guilford school board attorney Jill Wilson had complained about the low sublimits on Thursday, saying that she planned to take this up with state officials after Eastern settlement. Well, Townsend has beat her to the punch.
Townsend made the request in mid-April as a response to the Eastern fire and if approved, would take effect July 1. This won't help Eastern, but would likely help school systems breath easier on future claims. She noted that this request does not need approval by the Department of Insurance, as it does not regulate the DPI insurance fund.
In Eastern's case, the limited coverage of "extra expenses" would refer to the relocation costs of students, the preparation of the Browns Summit and GTCC sites, the leasing of mobile classrooms over a two-year period, etc. I remember the Browns Summit site work costing more than $400,000 alone, surpassing the $300,000 sublimit. The increased costs of construction are supposed to cover code changes and at $100,000, would not cover the cost of an elevator to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.