Tyler

By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer

Tyler ISD may call a November bond election at a special meeting next week for about $124.9 million for the school district to replace six campuses.

On Tuesday, Tyler ISD Superintendent Dr. Randy Reid presented information to the board of trustees about what projects are recommended for inclusion in the bond proposal. No action was taken.

Those projects include replacing Orr, Griffin, Woods, Clarkston and Jones elementary schools as well as the St. Louis School for students with special needs.

If a bond issue were to pass, Reid said they would like to see as many of these schools open in the fall of 2010 as possible, but the acquisition of land and design challenges may require an extra year for some projects.

Officials are looking to possibly acquire land to build new Griffin and Jones elementary schools, as well as possibly a new St. Louis School. Acquiring land is needed in most cases because of space constraints on the current sites, Reid said. The district is currently investigating its options for doing that.

According to Reid's presentation, the maximum Interest and Sinking (I&S) tax rate would peak in 2010 at 34.977 cents per $100 valuation - an increase of about 16.447 cents to the tax rate. In 2011, if the district did not incur additional debt, the rate would drop back to 28.269 cents because of previous debt retiring.

"We felt like we've taken a lot of effort to make sure that we're addressing the greatest need that we have first - these buildings that are the older ones, maybe have more portable buildings around them," Reid said after Tuesday's meeting. "We are just going to try to better the educational opportunities for all the elementary kids for this next program. We think this is a good step in that direction and we're getting close to being able to close the elementary chapter and move on to the secondary level."

TISD is considering a November bond election to address the second phase of a four-phase master facilities improvement plan.

Phase 1, a $95.9 million bond program voters approved in 2004, included construction of six replacement schools - Bell, Ramey, Douglas, Austin, Bonner and Peete elementary schools - and one new campus, Jack Elementary. Peete, the last to be completed, opened in January.

Phase 2, according to the original plan, would address needs at the remaining elementary schools, through replacing or remodeling buildings. The third phase calls for addressing mainly middle schools; and the fourth, high schools.

In May, Reid presented information about the elementary schools left to address either through replacing or remodeling. The total cost for all the remaining elementary work, along with the St. Louis School, was about $189 million. But officials said they would not try to present a bond election for that much to voters at once.

Board President Ron Vickery said after the meeting Tuesday that he thought it was a great list Reid presented to the board.

"I wish we had the capabilities of finishing all of the elementary schools, but I just felt like that total price tag was going to be more than our community was probably willing to accept right now," Vickery said. "This (proposal) addresses the most significant of the remaining elementary schools - and I love the fact that we're adding the St. Louis component because that community of families and teachers and staff at that school and the children that are served there really deserve to have a new facility to address their needs."

Vickery said the elementary schools not included on the list for Phase 2 will be reevaluated and addressed when the district comes back to consider its next bond program.

Reid showed photos and gave details Tuesday about each of the six projects, explaining the needs at each campus and projected cost of rebuilding. He also provided the FCI, or facilities condition index, of each campus.

The FCI essentially measures the cost of repairing a school versus replacing it. An FCI of 114.4 percent, for example, means it would cost 14.4 percent more to remodel the school than it would to just replace it.

Orr Elementary, built in 1962 at 46,608 square feet for a capacity of about 462 students, has about 20 portable buildings and about 671 students. Its FCI is 100.9 percent, and 45 percent of its classrooms are portable buildings.

Other concerns at Orr include that portables are in a teachers' parking lot and there are handicap accessibility issues.

In the proposal, Orr would be built at 85,000 square feet to hold 800 students at a projected cost of about $23.8 million. It would be built on land at its current location.

Reid reminded the board of the demographer's report that showed a need for more seats for students in northern Tyler.

"You're going to see that we're going to ask to build these campuses slightly larger than their current capacities to give us room for growth and give us room for maybe a different way of approaching things in the future if we choose to," Reid said.

Griffin Elementary, built in 1960 at 53,180 square feet for about 553 students, has about 581 students and 14 portable buildings. It has an FCI of 114.4 percent. About 37 percent of its classrooms are portables.

Other concerns at Griffin include non-air-conditioned corridors and outdated restroom facilities.

A new Griffin is proposed to be built on a "To Be Determined" site at 85,000 square feet to hold 800 students. Its projected cost is about $26.7 million.

Reid said it would be difficult to build a new Griffin on its current site. The $26.7 million figure includes land purchase dollars to buy land within the Griffin attendance area, he said.

Woods Elementary was built in 1956 for a capacity of about 592 students at 57,686 square feet. It has 14 portables and about 731 students. Its FCI is 102.5 percent. About 30 percent of its classrooms are portables.

Other areas of concern at Woods include a tiered facility that creates challenges for accessibility, as well as exposed roof equipment and space challenges for new technology.

The proposed new Woods Elementary would cost a projected $23.7 million for an 85,000-square-foot facility to hold 800 students. There is vacant land on the property available for new construction, according to the presentation.

Built in 1959 for a capacity of 531 students at 50,671 square feet. Clarkston contains about 392 students, but also handles special programs such as deaf education and life skills. It has seven portable buildings and has an FCI of 93.5 percent.

Other concerns for Clarkston include energy-inefficient classrooms, make-shift aesthetics and a shortage of storage space.

Clarkston does have vacant land for new construction. A new Clarkston would be built for a projected cost of about $19.3 million at 70,368 square feet to hold about 600 students.

That size would give room for growth and room for existing and future programming, Reid said.

Jones Elementary, built in 1956 for a capacity of about 267 students at 27,887 square feet, has 10 portable buildings. It has about 288 students and an FCI of 101.5 percent. About 41 percent of its classrooms are in portables.

Other issues at Jones include inadequate cafeteria size, a split-level design that causes erosion issues, detached gymnasium without accessibility and restroom facilities and proximity of playground not being conducive to building location as well as bats and drainage issues.

Jones is proposed to be built at 67,703 square feet for a capacity of 500 students at a projected cost of about $19.1 million.

According to the presentation, there is little building space around Jones. The new facility would be on a site yet to be determined.

Trustee Michelle Carr asked why it was not proposed as a larger campus.

"We do believe because of its proximity to the new Peete (elementary) and age of the community, we don't expect ... a huge amount of growth," Reid said, also noting the district does not want to overbuild.

The St. Louis School, a facility for special needs students, was built in 1961 for a capacity of 318 students at 37,574 square feet. It houses about 90 students with special needs. It has an FCI of 125.5 percent.

It originally was on the list to remodel instead of rebuild, but as the district studied it, the cost per square foot was actually higher because of the needs of the students, Reid said.

Issues of concern at St. Louis include space issues versus handicap accessibility issues as well as narrow corridors and lack of storage.

"This was designed as a regular school for small children and we have some 22-year-olds in this facility in large wheelchairs and it's very difficult to maneuver," Reid said.

A new St. Louis School is proposed to hold 90 to 100 students at 42,574 square feet and would be designed for the needs of students served there. The projected cost to build it would be about $12.3 million. It may also be built at a site that is yet to be determined.

While a new facility could be built on the site, Reid said it would be very tight and noted that these students likely would not adjust well if relocated during construction.

Having large machinery working around them may be a challenge as well, he said.

He also said that if the existing St. Louis School were left on that site, it might be used to house the Head Start program.

The board plans to meet at 10 a.m. Aug. 12 to call a Nov. 4 bond election.

The superintendent said the district has put out a request for qualifications for architectural services this week and will begin the interview processes to select architects to do this work. It has also retained three companies to conduct surveys on the district's current land.

Reid explained that their current efforts are not because TISD is being presumptuous that it will pass the bond issue, but noted that the district has money from the previous bond election to pay for the architectural services and the surveys.

"This work's going to need to be done whenever these campuses are worked on and the big key here is our timing," Reid said. "We are trying to get as much of this work done as quickly as possible. Remember, every month we delay bidding on one of these projects is roughly 1 percent interest. We want to make sure we are ready to roll ... so if the election passes we will have the capacity to complete these projects in as quick a time frame as possible."

The district is looking at an accelerated timeline of construction because of the rising costs of construction and inflation.

The Facility Group, TISD's pre-bond development firm, presented figures at an April meeting that showed the cost to build Peete today would be about $1.5 million more than in 2006. And costs are projected to continue to rise.

Vickery said after the meeting, "We do intend to come back pretty quickly with the next bond and not wait another four years."