A debate on whether to award a bid for construction of a Springfield Schools maintenance building has been decided following a special meeting on March 29.
At the March 21 regular meeting, the board of education tabled the decision due to concerns they had about awarding the bid to Comte Construction for $243,700.
Board member Ken Musch believes the quoted price is high “for three walls” but acknowledged that costs are increasing.
“Prices are not going down,” he said, adding, “I anticipate a year from now it would be more money.
Board member Ev Harris hesitated in giving the project to Comte, noting previous problems the district had with the firm and getting the project complete in a timely fashion. “Their reputation is not very good.”
Mr. Musch suggested that Continued from page 1 if the board awards the contract to Comte, they should stipulate that the company have a supervisor on duty at least half the time workers are on duty and provide a guarantee that the project will be complete in 185 days.
“We need to get some assurances,” he said.
After learning the company had agreed to their conditions the board approved the contract.
At the March 21 meeting, the school board did approve a bid for kitchen renovations at the high school. That contract was awarded to Midwest Construction Inc. for $399,100.
The firm was the only company to submit a bid, and according to officials from Buehrer Architectural Group, they are aware the project must be complete by the start of the school year on August 16.
Personnel
The school board took action on a number of personnel matters.
For the baseball/softball season, they awarded casual labor contracts for Blue Devil Fields ballpark monitors to Phat (Lee) Chau, Aundre Graham, Troy Laurie and Timothy Lewallen.
Contracts also were approved for Alec Blake, middle school English, and Abbe Whitacre, secretary to the Holloway Elementary principal.
A personal service contract was authorized for Brenda Winchester, SHS yearbook photographer.
Resignations were accepted from Doriane Cox, SHS assistant coach for boys tennis; Philip Witker, substitute teacher, and Sheridan Parker, secretary to the Holloway principal.
Two stipends were approved for Brad Kerns and Amanda Wilson, Summer Spark program teachers for grades pre-K to 5.
Other Business
In other business, the school board:
•Approved an agreement with the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center for Educational Services at the Liberty Education Center, effective March 13.
•Issued commendations to members of the varsity girls basketball team and the coaches for being one of the top eight teams in the state.
Members of the team are Jade Battle, Kendall Carruthers, Tessa Geiner, Grace Gilsdorf, A’Leah Hodges, Ella Jordan, Kanaya Keister, Paige Koback, Daniela Martinez, Hannah Schlachter, Jylian Seibert, Gretchen Sigman, Kalaia Taylor, Tessa Troutman and Myaat Woodley. They were coached by Clifton Hodges, head coach, and assistant coaches Raul Arredondo, Art Battle and Rachel Dudukovich.
•Received an update from Jerry Bell, student services and career tech coordinator, about classes that will be implemented in the district’s career tech center.
Programs will include hospitality and tourism, business administration, bio medical, phlebotomy and construction.
Penta Career Center will take the lead in funding the construction program designed for middle school students and the phlebotomy course which is for senior students only.
•Heard from Paulette Baz, director of federal funds, on how a portion of the ESSR rescue plan funds will go toward the Summer Spark program.
She noted that a requirement of the federal funding was that 20 percent had to be directed toward learning loss associated with the pandemic.
•Approved two requests to attend professional development days.
The next board of education meeting will be at 4:15 p.m., Wednesday, April 12, at the administration building, 6900 Hall Street, and is open to the public.
