Tyler

By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer

With the passage of the Tyler ISD bond election behind them, TISD trustees pushed forward Thursday with plans, deciding the future home of the new joint Jones-Boshears school.

The board approved the purchase of 14.4 acres of land off of Chandler Highway at its meeting Thursday. The land will be used to build the new joint school that voters approved in the Nov. 4 TISD bond election.

The district will pay $850,000 for the site, which is located behind the Westwood Shopping Center, near SSW Loop 323, off of Texas Highway 31 West. Funding for the property will come from bond proceeds.

Voters approved the $124.9 million TISD bond election on Nov. 4, authorizing the district to replace six campuses: Clarkston, Griffin, Jones, Orr and Woods elementary schools as well as the St. Louis School-Wayne D. Boshears Center for Exceptional Programs, which is a school for students with special needs.

Reid has said they hope to close on the land within the next couple of weeks.

The current St. Louis building located on Walton Road will remain at that location and retain its St. Louis School name. Reid has said he refers to the new joint school as Jones-Boshears to help avoid any confusion since the St. Louis campus will remain where it is.

Reid said previously that if the bond proposal passed, the program for students with special needs would serve as a center within the new Jones and still provide all the same services it does at its current facility.

This joint facility is also expected to increase the size of Jones. Reid has said Jones would be built as a 500-student model, which would provide more space for the future or for more magnet program options.

He has said the district is looking to use the existing St. Louis facility, with some minor modifications, as a Head Start/Pre-K center.

The district would like to see as many of the new schools as possible open in fall 2010, but that acquisition of land and design challenges may require more time for some projects.

The district needs new land for the Jones-Boshears campus as well as a new Griffin Elementary School.

Reid has said he expects that if the board approves this purchase of land, the Jones-Boshears campus should open with the other schools. And if all goes as planned with land for Griffin Elementary, then that opening should not be delayed either.

Designs are still in the works for what the new joint Jones-Boshears school will look like, Reid has said.

Trustees

also approved

the selection of a construction manager-at-risk for projects in the bond program.

Eight firms were reviewed for the role, and three were interviewed. The board approve the administration's recommendation to select Denson Construction Company Inc. as the construction manager-at-risk firm for the new Orr, Griffin, Woods and Jones-Boshears schools. RPR Construction Co. Inc. was approved as the construction manager-at-risk for the new Clarkston Elementary.

The construction manager-at-risk is primarily responsible for managing and overseeing the construction process that occurs as well as handling, along with TISD staff, the bid processes from sub-contractors.

Both recommended companies also worked on the last bond program initiated in 2004.

The superintendent has also said that the district expects to hire a small team of people to help the district track the dollars spent on the construction processes. This two-to-three member team will essentially fill the role that The Staubach Company did during the construction process on the previous bond election in 2004.

FUND BALANCE

Also Thursday, trustees approved designating fund balance dollars.

The district has an extra $7.45 million that it received because of adjustments in target revenue by the state and Average Daily Attendance (ADA) increases.

Trustees approved the district's request to place the $7.45 million in the following areas: $1.75 million for the district incentive program and rewards for performance; $350,000 for the addition of teachers in the fall of 2008 because of growth; $250,000 for the hiring of additional teachers for hard-to-find areas; $300,000 for C-SCOPE additional amount for campuses; $750,000 for the school bus replacement plan; $100,000 for bond election expense; $2 million for the Instructional Sustainment Fund; $1.6 million for unanticipated maintenance projects; and more than $350,000 for technology.

OTHER ITEMS

Trustees also approved: 2008-09 amended budget; 2008 certified tax roll; sale of property for delinquent taxes; demolition of old Ramey Elementary; additional PDAS teacher appraiser; Adobe Software purchase; and received a monthly financial executive summary and preventive maintenance annual report.

The board also had its first reading of the TISD board audit committee charter and internal auditor charter. The board determined an internal auditor for the district was needed to help trustees in fulfilling their oversight responsibilities.

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