Posted 1:49 am Thursday, December 17, 2009
TISD Board To Consider Renovation Contracts
By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Plans are moving forward for additions and renovations at Birdwell and Owens elementary schools.
The Tyler ISD school board will consider approving architectural and engineering contracts for Birdwell and Owens elementary schools at today'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. Closed session 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 at 6 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 that it plans to use for the renovation work at Birdwell and Owens.
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 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 portable 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 example of 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 for 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 today's agenda, including the demolition of existing buildings at Orr and Woods elementary schools and asbestos removal at Clarkston, Orr and Woods elementary schools.
The demolition work at Orr and Woods would not happen until after the school year ends. Asbestos abatement has to be done before demolition.
The purchase of more than $996,000 in furniture for four of the five new schools also is on the agenda.
CALENDAR
The board will also 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.
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 is also today.
Reid said the information in the AEIS report includes schools' official state ratings, which were already announced earlier this year. During this time the district will also 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 feel would jeopardize security, Reid said.
