The Houston School District has partnered with a Joplin firm to begin roof work approved in the April bond issue.
The school board accepted a $781,800 bid from Guarantee Roofing at Tuesday’s meeting. The bid was below the projected cost of $1 million and the lowest of seven bids that were as high as $1.2 million.
“We’re very pleased to partner with them on this project,” Superintendent Scott Dill said of Guarantee Roofing, which previously completed projects in the Joplin and Webb City school districts.
Dill said when contracts are completed –– they are still in the process of being signed –– the company has 14 days to arrive on campus. The roof on the elementary building will be repaired first, followed by the middle and high school. Due to the nature of work on the vocational building, which will require complete removal of its contents as the roof is completely removed, that work will take place when the school year ends.
The project will be completed in early August 2014.
Dill said other construction related to the bond issue could begin in late January or early February. The next steps will be demolition of the existing library and exterior work to expand the cafeteria. Dill said board members are reading through pre-construction documents with the goal of beginning the bid process shortly before or after Christmas.
The entire construction process was initially delayed by a disagreement between the school district and its architectural firm, Sapp Design Associates Architects P.C. of Springfield. The sides eventually settled in August for $27,843.75.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, board members:
––Received an audit report for fiscal year 2013 from Mike Catlett of Catlett & Associates, LLC. Catlett reported no major findings and solid accounting practices at the district.
––Expressed concern about length of bus routes during a presentation by Dill, who provided information on behalf of Joe Montgomery, transportation director.
––Approved adding Sharon Jeffus, Rebecca White, Alaina Ebert and Sarah Sanders to the substitute teacher’s list.
––Terminated the middle school volleyball extra duty contract with Stephanie Martin, effective immediately. Martin was previously replaced by Julee Chipps as head coach.
––Heard a Missouri School Board Association policy update related to mandatory reporter training and board member qualifications and elections.