School board gives final approval to $11.9m rebuild
HUNTSVILLE — Revised plans for a new school at Robbins and major renovation and an addition for Burchfield Elementary School have received final approval of the Board of Education.
Meeting in regular monthly session here Thursday evening, the board voted 7-0 to approve preliminary designs for the two projects at a total estimated cost of $11,986,207.
Both plans were revised (for cost savings) by architects from Upland Design at the request of the board, and plans now call for $5.2 million in new construction at Robbins (and a total project cost of $5,991,480), and $4.6 million in new construction plus another $387,595 in renovations (for a total project cost of $5,994,727) at Burchfield.
Board Member Brad Zachary, who made the motion to accept the plans submitted by Architect Neal Richardson and send them on to County Commission for funding, questioned whether or not the four rooms in the old building should remain or be torn down.
Richardson said regardless of whether those rooms remain intact or are demolished, the plans presented “still have a capacity for 400 students.” He said the board may want to abandon the old building and remove it, or leave it. “That’s board decision,” he added.
Board Member Vivian Smith stated that she felt the board ought to “wait and see” whether or not to demolish the building.
It had been suggested that the building could remain to be used as a community center and demolition costs were not included in the architect’s estimate.
Plans for the Burchfield update, meanwhile, call for new construction on a portion of the existing site as well as utilization of 4.5 adjacent acres expected to be acquired at a cost of $200,000. In addition, virtually all of the existing building at Burchfield will be utilized, although the existing library and cafeteria will undergo renovation to turn the library into classroom space and the cafeteria into an expanded library.
In other business Thursday, the board voted to allocate $249,364.96 from its 2008-2009 budget fund balance to purchase three new school buses.
Board Member Jim Sexton asked Director of Schools Sharon Wilson if the board would have that much in its fund balance.
“We do have it currently,” was her reply. The measure carried by an all-aye vote.
The meeting also saw the board:
• Award a $3,777 bid to R. Conrad Reese Sales & Service for a 10,000 pound capacity automotive lift, to be installed at the Tennessee Technology Center for use by Scott High students enrolled in vocational education courses there. The funds will come out of the Carl Perkins Fund for vocational education;
• Approved the appointment of a seven-member Calendar Committee to develop the 2009-2010 school year calendar. Named to the committee were representatives of each of the school centers: Tonja Crabtree, Burchfield; Valerie Williams, Fairview; Sherry Trammell, Huntsville Elementary; Debbie Cross, Huntsville Middle; Amanda Overton, Robbins; Melissa Rector, Scott High; and Susan Dunlap, Winfield;
• Authorized the addition of $7,500 to the Title I Budget in funds awarded to Burchfield Elementary School by the state along with its designation of Buchfield as a “Title I Distinguished School”;
• Approved filing a for E-rate Service technology funds for the 2009-2010 fiscal year which will be used to extend contracts with Highland Telephone Cooperative for phone service; Telepage, Inc., for pagers and Wireless WAN; US Cellular, for cell phone service; Education Networks of America, for internet service; Avaya, for phone maintenance; and PSC, Inc., for TANDBERG equipment mainteance;
• Authorized the creation of an Athletic Program Evaluation Committee, to be named by the director of schools, to prepare and submit a report on their findings and recommendations for the board as to the quality of the school systems’ athletic programs in the schools;
• Voted to renew the annual contract with Hobart Equipment Co. for maintenance of dishwashers in all schools at the cost of $10,166.10;
• Approved on first reading the adoption of a new board policy on foreign exchange students as recommended by the Tennessee School Boards Association;
• Approved overnight, out-of-state trips for 1) Tony Zachary’s class at Scott High to Mill Springs, Ky. Civil War battlefield site on January 20; and for 2) Winfield Elementary School team to participate in the TNT State Basketball Tournament in Springfield sometime during the Feb. 5-21 period; and,
• Approved a Feb. 23-24 trip for members of the board to attend the annual “Day on the Hill” meeting with state legislators.