Happy New Year! 2011 already and that of course, means the school year is nearly half over already. With the New Year comes the remainder of the projects on the buildings that were approved a little over a year ago. We hope to take these to the bid process in late January or early February.

As the construction industry is in a very competitive mode currently, as evidenced by the bids received on the Elementary portion of the project, there are funds remaining that can be allocated to additional projects to improve the current buildings. Due to this fortunate situation, the Board of Education has called a special meeting for January 3, 2011 at 6PM in room A240 of the High School to discuss the process and possible projects as we move forward with improving the buildings for educational purposes, as well as community events.

The Board and administration seeks input on these possible projects and would greatly appreciate any district patron’s attendance at this public meeting. The agenda of this meeting consists of only one item, that being the process in which to move forward with the addition and completion of additional projects.

Through the past year and a half, projects discussed and identified by the board have included; a complete remodel of the auditorium including new seating, sound and light systems, and upgrades to the acoustics throughout the room. I believe this will be a very welcome improvement, as this facility gets a great deal of use, and is not currently the most comfortable environment.

Currently, the office spaces in both the Middle and High School are not very easily identified, nor very well situated for security purposes. A remodel of both spaces will provide for sight lines of entrances to buildings as well as areas for patrons to be seated as they wait for either students or adults in both offices.

As part of the current drawings, a room is being added adjacent to the Ag shop in order to house air handling units for the reworked heating and cooling system to be installed. Adding a concession area and restrooms on this addition will eliminate the porta-pots currently used in the fall as well as satisfy the health inspectors who don’t like concessions served out of the Ag shop.

These are the types of projects being considered and will be discussed at the special meeting on January 3. We hope to see you there.