The Clay County School Board Executive Committee approved low bids for new phone systems and an erosion control project Thursday night.
The erosion control project at Clay County High School entails installing rock-lined rip rap. School Board Chair Benji Bailey said there is a growing problem with a waterway running to the left of the school. Bailey said two bids came in for the project: one from a local bidder, and another from an adjacent county.
“The local provider, the local bid is considerably cheaper,” Bailey said. “We had the soil conservation and their folks consult on the two bids, and both bids would meet the specs that they would require, that they drew up.”
Bailey said the project will be completed through a grant from the soil conservation service. The some $38,000 project will cover proper lining and drainage in the waterway to prevent soil loss issues.
Bailey said this project was not initially budgeted, but the bid came in with the accordance with the grant. Bailey said the grant will ease any burden placed on the school system’s budget.
The School Board Executive Committee also approved the only bid for two new telephone systems. Bailey said the phones at Clay County High School and Celina K-8 need replacing. Bailey said Twin Lakes, the district’s current provider, will handle the project for some $21,000 per school.
“Our phone systems in both schools are obviously older, and when you have issues with that, whether it’s replacing equipment or whatever, those need to be reliable,” Bailey said. “It would be a safety issue if we would be unable to make a call at the appropriate time, so we wanted to make sure we had the proper equipment and updated equipment to be able to do that.”
Bailey said if the district delayed the project any further, it could be harder to find the needed replacement parts. Bailey said the project will be done in a way that causes the least disruption.
“We will now proceed with ordering,” Bailey said. “And hopefully, those can be installed by Christmas. Hopefully, maybe even by Fall Break. If we were able to do that when not as many kids were in the building, that would be a wonderful thing too.”
Bailey said the erosion control project will also be scheduled for Fall Break because there will be less people on campus.
The Clay County School Board’s meeting Thursday was not an official called meeting. Only four Board Members were present in person, and a few others joined by phone. The board needs a six-member quorum to hold official meetings and conduct business.
In lieu of this, Bailey said the School Board had to act as an executive committee to approve more urgent items. Each of these items were discussed by the present Board Members and approved.
The Executive Committee approved the renewal of the Savvas Successmaker Reading Intervention Program for Celina K-8 and Hermitage Springs School. The district has used the program for several years, and it is consistent with several district textbooks.
The Executive Committee considered and approved quotes for 120 Lenovo Chromebooks and 45 desktop computers for teachers. The desktop computer towers and monitors will be purchased from separate vendors to save money. These quotes required approval Thursday because orders after October would have been subject to tariffs.
Other items were postponed.
