Posted 1:19 am Friday, November 20, 2009
TISD Board Approves Renovations For Birdwell, Owens
By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer
Tyler ISD trustees unanimously approved using excess funds from the 2004 and 2008 bond programs to proceed with designs, renovations and additions for Birdwell and Owens elementary schools, marking a continuation of the district's facilities improvement plan.
Staff Writer
Tyler ISD trustees unanimously approved using excess funds from the 2004 and 2008 bond programs to proceed with designs, renovations and additions for Birdwell and Owens elementary schools, marking a continuation of the district's facilities improvement plan.
"I think it's a great opportunity for us to continue to honor the original plan of the bond, which was to complete those elementary schools first," Reid said after Thursday night's school board meeting.
TISD is currently constructing five schools as part of a $124.9 million, "Phase 2" bond program voters approved in November 2008. The district expects to save at least $20 million from this current bond program. That figure does not include any possible savings from the Griffin Elementary project, which began later than the others.
The savings are due in large part to the lack of inflation growth, which had been projected to be at 1 percent per month, Reid has said.
The district also has about $3 million in savings from the 2004 bond.
As part of the district's facilities master plan, it is addressing facility issues at elementary schools first.
The 2004 "Phase 1" bond program built six replacement elementary campuses and one brand new elementary school. The 2008 "Phase 2" bond program is replacing six campuses, including the St. Louis School for special needs students, which will be combined with a new Jones Elementary.
The remaining elementary schools in TISD on the list for improvements were: Birdwell, Dixie, Rice and Owens.
Reid said Birdwell and Owens were chosen out of the remaining elementary schools to move forward with because of the combination of estimated costs it will take to renovate them.
"Any other combination would have been more money than we had available to us," Reid said after the meeting. "We hope to catch the quality pricing we've been getting by being able to move forward in the spring with these."
The other remaining elementary schools, Rice and Dixie, also may be a little more challenging in terms of the design, he said.
"We believe with the timing we could get these buildings designed and to bids by the spring so we could begin construction in the summer and be able to complete the buildings by August 2011," Reid told trustees.
Rice and Dixie will be tackled as part of the beginning of the next bond program, Reid has said.
Renovations and additions at Birdwell and Owens will address areas such as cafeterias, libraries, gyms, administrative areas and possibly new or renovated classroom space as well as technology upgrades. Space in the current facilities may be repurposed for other uses as part of the renovations.
Tim Loper, director of facilities at TISD, told trustees he expects to return to the board in January with conceptual designs for these projects.
"We will reassess the campus. We'll discuss it with the principal, director of elementary education and see what the needs are now and what we think the needs are going to be in the future and try to build accordingly," Loper said, noting they will try to build in extra capacity to these schools.
Officials have said they are estimating that the work that needs to be done at those schools, as was identified in a prior assessment, will be within the $23 million that the district has in excess bond funds.
Loper said they will return to the board with a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for the work to these schools.
Officials have said it is important to seize this current pricing while they can.
"Our pricing is so solid right now that we don't want to lose this window of opportunity," Reid has said previously. "The bids we're receiving have been very competitive. We don't know how long that's going to last, but we certainly want to take advantage of it while we can."
On this issue, trustees approved several items, including the use of the excess bond funds for the design, renovations and additions at the schools, the construction delivery method of "construction management-at-risk," which is the same as in the 2004 and 2008 bond programs, and entering into contract negotiations with Eubanks-Harris-Roberts-Craig Architects for the architectural and engineering services.
OTHER ITEMS
Also approved Thursday: 2009-10 amended budget; 2009 certified tax roll; fund balance designations; resolution approving independent sources of instruction relating to the investment responsibilities; annual investment broker review; resolution reaffirming investment policy; resolution for sale of property for delinquent taxes; gifts and donations; dona
Discussion items on the dress code policy at TISD and the district's policy and practices related to the issuance of citations were tabled because of time constraints.
One citizen spoke during the public participation period of the meeting. Jamie Frederick spoke about the need for a south side middle school in TISD.
The board also approved the superintendent's performance goals after a late closed session discussion Thursday night. Goals address three major areas, Reid said, including academic performance, development of the next bond program and strategic planning for the district.
