- By Dan Veaner
- News
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C&S's Joe Delaney began the session with a report on the budget, saying that the architect's estimates are "pretty good numbers." He noted that he is building in a 7.5% escalation factor to allow for rising costs of construction materials, plus a 10% contingency factor. When BOE President Bonita Lindberg asked about the sky rocketing cost of steel, Mr. Delaney noted that steel prices are leveling off, and that in any case there is a 17% cushion in the budget to deal with unknowns.
From there the board went through a long list of details that included a new phone system, campus traffic flow, heating and cooling, locker replacement, new science classrooms, locker rooms for the High School pool, displacement of existing classrooms and renovations to the Middle School Auditorium. The BOE considered these details to help decide exactly what will be included in the project before it is presented to the public.
Interim Superintendent Tiffany Phillips noted the board would need more workshop time to get through the list and make informed decisions on the scope of the project. She presented a schedule that leads to a March 21, 2006 vote that requires that the scope of the project be finalized by December 12 of this year. The board voted to spend part of their regular meeting time on the capital project in addition to another workshop.
Ms. Lindberg reminded the board that all its members have to believe in all the elements included in the project that they present to school district voters. That made the discussion more specific than previously about how elements of the project will fulfill programming needs, and questions raised were sent back to the departments to answer.
For example, one way to address the inadequate stage in the Middle School is to enlarge it by using the space used for an orchestra pit in school musicals. This would leave the program with no place to put a pit orchestra, however, so the board sent the question back to the music department to clarify their priorities for the space. Another example is the goal of having one classroom per science teacher so that scheduling shared rooms does not curtail important science programs in the High School.
A new High School auditorium and campus-wide phone system are still being considered as separate items. If they remain that way in the March referendum a base capital project will be put before the voters, with the two additional items contingent on the base project passing if they pass.
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