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$2,500 . . . for a door?

What's in the $38 million fix-up figure at Ada H. Lewis Middle School? Some contractors, hired by concerned parents, said they were astonished at some of the line-item costs in the school district's 2006 estimate that it would cost $38 million to repair and modernize the school.

What's in the $38 million fix-up figure at Ada H. Lewis Middle School?

Some contractors, hired by concerned parents, said they were astonished at some of the line-item costs in the school district's 2006 estimate that it would cost $38 million to repair and modernize the school.

For example, the district estimated a cost of $2,500 per door to be placed on existing frames.

"That's ridiculous," contractor Hillard Fontaine said. "The metal doors they need, with the type of hardware they'd need, would cost close to $900 to $1,100."

Another contractor, Robert Kirby, said he thought he could get doors for even less.

"I've done prison work, hospital work, and a fire-rated, prefinished door, I can get for $250," he said.

Kirby also said the estimate for replacing the Ada Lewis gymnasium floor was overpriced at $40 per square foot.

"Unless you're at the Palestra, you're not going to spend $40 per square foot," Kirby said. "You could do a middle-school gym floor for $10 to $12 a square foot." *

- Valerie Russ