MARSHALL — The next step forward in some major construction planned in the Marshall Public School District will be coming later this month. Members of the Marshall School Board voted Monday to advertise for bids for a building addition Park Side Elementary, and security updates to Park Side, Marshall High School, and MATEC.

Bids will be opened Dec. 5, and construction at Park Side is planned to start next year.

The building addition is part of the first phase of a $29.8 million bond project at the school district. A bigger phase, which would build a new school to replace West Side Elementary, is also planned for 2020.

“That’s a little later, because there’s a lot more going into the full building,” said Dion Caron, director of business services for the school district. Caron said he’s gotten questions from members of the public wondering when ground would be broken for the new school. The building referendum making the project possible passed in May.

MPS will be taking bids for building expansions at Park Side, and additional security measures at Park Side and other schools in the district. Three classrooms will be added at Park Side, as well as classroom and office expansions for early childhood education. The extra space will allow MPS to move its early childhood classes from their current location at Marshall Middle School to Park Side, Caron said.

The portable classrooms standing outside Park Side are planned to be removed by the end of the year, Caron said. It will make room for construction preparations, hopefully before any snow has a chance to build up around the portable classrooms.

In addition to building expansions, the first phase of construction will include increased security at Park Side and renovations to put the school’s main office closer to the entrance.

Caron said similar upgrades are also planned at MHS and MATEC as part of the first construction phase. The main entrance of the high school will be renovated to make it more secure, a little like the vestibule at the middle school’s main entrance, he said. Security measures like a lockdown system will also be installed. MATEC already has a secure vestibule at its main entrance, but a buzz-in system for visitors and a lockdown system will be added.

In addition, some windows and doors at Marshall Public Schools will be given a shatterproof glaze, Caron said.

The school district will be advertising for bids over the next two weeks. A pre-bid meeting will be held Nov. 20 at Park Side, and sealed bids will be opened after 2 p.m. on Dec. 5.