The Jefferson City Public Schools district's Board of Education announced some updates on progress of its two high school plan and how it will continue to relay that progress.
Architects Alliance's Principal Architect Cary Gampher showed the board and those in attending the Monday night board meeting an overall draft schedule, generally outlining what may happen and when on the high school projects over the coming months.
"We could turn dirt tomorrow. We could go down and clear the site, and that will be one of the early things we do, but we don't want to do that too early," Gampher said of the work at the site of the second high school off Missouri 179 at Mission Drive, after Superintendent Larry Linthacum relayed the question he often gets about why ground hasn't been broken yet.
Gampher explained the site won't be cleared too early before it's ready for other activities to happen, like foundation and road access work.
There are still many design and planning sessions to be completed over the summer before any digging is done, but the document he exhibited showed that could happen by the end of this year or the beginning of 2018.
He anticipates delivery of the schematic design report at the end of July.
He also said student representatives have been added to the committee of staff that's been giving input to the architects about design needs at both the new high school and renovated current high school.
The district said it will make the schedule document available on its website.
Linthacum announced the first Friday of each month, he will host a community coffee called "Coffee with Larry." The 7-8 a.m. sessions will share further updates with the community. The first such event will be Friday, June 2, at the Miller Performing Arts Center.
"We'll give an update on the bond issue (projects), we'll talk about our district priorities, our district strategic plan, if there's topics of interests that folks want to talk about, we'll always have a question and answer time," he said of the format at each community meeting.
He also said the venue may change from meeting to meeting, though further announcements will come.
Also at its meeting, the board approved the Kerber, Eck and Braeckel, LLP firm to conduct its annual audit, after Graves and Associates, CPAs, LLC declined to renew for next year.
The board also approved several contracts, including an $839,871.88 contract with publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a new math textbook series for kindergarten through algebra 1, plus associated professional development resources for teachers.
Updates of the district's textbook series will be paid for with the operating levy approved by voters in April.
The board also approved several construction contracts, which are summertime capital improvement projects, not associated with any of the two high school plan's bond issue money:
Floor covering projects: JCD Floor Covering, $30,180.66 for floors at Miller Performing Arts Center, Lewis and Clark Middle School, the 179 soccer park and Cedar Hill Elementary; and Sommers Interiors, $22,789 for floors at Thorpe Gordon Elementary, the Weber Building, the district's maintenance shop and Pioneer Trail Elementary.
Asphalt and concrete projects: Jefferson City Asphalt Company, $152,169.86, for work at Callaway Hills Elementary (a $53,992.69 base bid), Cedar Hill, Belair Elementary and Lawson Elementary (a $27,254 base bid); Higgins Ashpalt Paving Company, of Tipton, $7,992.10 for work at the district's driving range; and KA Berendzen Construction LLC, $15,044 for work at Moreau Heights Elementary.
Tuck pointing, calking and sealing projects: T & J's Restoration and Waterproofing, $43,155 for work at South Elementary; MTS Contracting, Inc., of Springfield, $6,800 for work at Callaway Hills; and Staat, Inc., of St. Louis, $189,785 for work at the board office and Thomas Jefferson Middle School. The base bid for work at the board office was $76,235, and $113,550 for the work at Thomas Jefferson.