Board approves calendar, contracts for three bond projects
Jan. 19, 2010
The Springfield board of education awarded contracts to architectural firms for three 2009 bond projects at its Jan. 19 regular meeting. The district will enter into contracts with three architectural firms for the gymnasium addition at Jeffries Elementary School, expansion of Westport Elementary School, and improvements at Hillcrest High School. Dake Wells was selected for the Jeffries project and Esterly Schneider was selected for the Hillcrest renovations; both firms are Springfield-based. The architectural firm BCDM, based in Nebraska, was selected for the Westport expansion.
The architects were selected for the projects after a thorough process that winnowed the field down from 21 firms to nine. The nine firms were asked to respond to a series of written questions and participate in an interview by a 12-member selection committee. The committee then identified five finalists which were required to complete a charrette, a simulated scenario in which firms develop a solution to a proposed design problem, as part of the process.
During Tuesday night's meeting, the board discussed at length district purchasing policies and procedures. Board members agreed to review current policies concerning local and minority preference for awarding contracts to determine whether they need to be revised.
The 2010-2011 school calendar was approved by the board at the meeting. The first day of school will be Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010.
The board also updated district policies regarding student withdrawal and compulsory attendance to align with recent changes to state law.
Administration presented the district's second quarter report that measures overall district performance. The report showed that Springfield students continue to outperform the state and national average ACT scores. You can view the report online.
The full meeting agenda is available online. Watch the video of the meeting.