Posted 12:23 am Wednesday, December 16, 2009
TISD Board To Consider Approval Of Renovation Contracts
By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer
The Tyler ISD school board will consider approving architectural and engineering contracts for additions and renovations at Birdwell and Owens elementary schools at Thursday's regular meeting.
Staff Writer
The Tyler ISD school board will consider approving architectural and engineering contracts for additions and renovations at Birdwell and Owens elementary schools at Thursday's regular meeting.
The meeting is set for 7 p.m. in the Dr. Jack L. Davidson Conference Center at the Jim Plyler Instructional Complex, 807 W. Glenwood. The closed session meeting begins at 6 p.m.
Trustees will consider awarding architectural contracts to Eubanks-Harris-Roberts-Craig Architects. Services include mechanical/electrical, landscape, food service equipment and structural engineering.
Architectural fees for each campus are proposed to be six percent of construction costs plus reimbursables.
TISD is 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 and plans to use the money for the renovation work at Birdwell and Owens.
The savings are largely because of the lack of inflation growth, which had been projected to be at 1 percent a 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 remaining elementary schools in TISD on the list for improvements were Birdwell, Dixie, Rice and Owens.
TISD Superintendent Dr. Randy Reid has said Birdwell and Owens were chosen out of the remaining elementary schools to move forward with improvements because of the combination of estimated costs it will take to renovate them.
As far as work that needs to be done at those schools, Reid said both of their libraries are undersized, cafeteria spaces are not large enough and both schools will be getting new gymnasiums. Both have port-able buildings and will get extra classroom space.
"We're trying to make the best use of the space that we have," Reid said, adding that an option they may look at is converting existing library space into new classrooms and then building a new library.
"We've got some preliminary drawings we're looking at," he said, adding that the full scope of the work should be ready to release in January.
The district hopes to go to bids on the construction work in the spring and begin work when school ends, finishing by the beginning of the school year in 2011.
Several other items related to school construction are up for approval on Thursday's agenda, including the demolition of existing buildings at Orr and Woods elementary schools and asbestos removal at Clarkston, Orr and Woods elementary schools.
Reid said that at Orr, Woods and Clarkston, where the existing buildings now sit, there eventually will be anything from playgrounds and play fields to parking lots.
The demolition work at Orr and Woods would not happen until after the school year ends. Asbestos abatement has to be done before those buildings can be torn down.
The purchase of more than $996,000 in furniture for four of the five new schools also is on the agenda for approval.
CALENDAR
The board also will discuss the first draft of the 2010-11 school calendar. Reid said the district will place the draft of the calendar on its Web site by Friday for the public to provide feedback.
He said the proposed 2010-11 calendar is very similar to this year's calendar, including the week break for Thanksgiving. The first day of school would be Aug. 23.
The required public hearing on the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) annual report also is Thursday.
Reid said the information in the AEIS report includes schools' official state ratings, which already were announced earlier this year.
During this time, the district also will present information about changes to the system for the coming year, he said.
During the board's closed session meeting, trustees will receive a preliminary report from the Texas School Safety Center on their findings from their review of TISD's security.
Reid said the reason this is happening in closed session is because some pieces of the report that describe weaknesses could jeopardize security if released in public.
The Safety Center will have follow-up meetings in January with the community and release information at those times that the school district doesn't think would jeopardize security, Reid said.
OTHER ITEMS
Trustees also will consider approval of the 2009-10 amended budget; School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) voting committee; TISD/TJC memorandum of understanding for Emergency Medical Technician-Basic certificate courses for dual credit; and consulting contract with Five Star Education Solutions to act as Technical Assistance Provider for John Tyler High School Improvement Process.
The board also will hear reports about school construction, finances and board member training. They will discuss several local policy updates from the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) and have a first reading of local policy changes that came out of the Center for the Reform of School Systems (CRSS) board training.
The campus spotlight presentation at this month's regular meeting will be on Birdwell Elementary.
