Steering Committee To Be Chosen For Building Plan

GRAND SALINE—School trustees will select people to serve on a steering committee that will make recommendations on the future of the district’s buildings.

In its meeting Monday, the Grand Saline School Board voted to appoint a committee that will include citizens in the school district as well as board members and administrators.

That measure was recommended by architect Mike Butler of Tyler-based Fitzpatrick Butler Architects in a brief presentation he and Jason Jennings gave at the meeting.

Butler suggested a steering committee of eight to 10 people. Ad-hoc committees that include others within the district could be appointed to look at specific issues, he added.

Trustee Dan Carroll voiced his support of the idea. "I think appointing a steering committee will be a necessity to get the community on board with this," he said.

Jennings agreed, saying such a committee would give the community a voice in the district’s future building plans.

"You definitely don’t want to be perceived as pushing something through or rushing through it," he said.

Trustee Victor Conley added the suggestion of having each board member appoint one member of the public on the steering committee. Carroll included that stipulation in the motion he made shortly thereafter.

The motion was approved 5-0 with Walt Bryant, Sharon Slayden and Michael Swain being the others present for the vote.

The steering committee is scheduled to be named at the July regular board meeting.

Grand Saline ISD is looking to replace its present elementary school campus, which includes a 70-year-old building. Earlier in the year, an architectural report showed the campus to have numerous structural, drainage and safety problems.

In his presentation, Butler spoke about the need for a "master plan" involving all of the school district’s properties instead of focusing solely on the elementary campus.

As examples, he showed the school board some drawings of master plan designs for other schools and churches in the Fitzpatrick Butler Architects client portfolio.

"You really need a master plan in place to know just where a new elementary campus is going to go," Butler said.

Also in Monday’s meeting, the board directed Grand Saline ISD Superintendent Mark Keahey to look at the Education Service Center Region VII bid list for someone to perform roof drain repairs at the middle school/intermediate school cafeteria.

The district had solicited bids for the work but none were received by the deadline before the meeting. Keahey said representatives from three companies had visited the campus to look at the cafeteria roof.

"They talked about how they would fix it, but we received no bids on it. It is a problem we really need to fix," he said.

Maintenance/Transportation Director Kevin Featherston said one prospective bidder went as far as to give a "ballpark price a few months back" but never followed through with an official bid.

"I’m afraid if we delay this until July, we may have more damage occur," Carroll said, adding that he also wanted to avoid work continuing when school starts in August.

In other matters, the school board took the following action:

— Tabled action on adoption of Update 85, affecting local policies.

— Tabled action on the adoption of Board Policy GK (Local) due to a needed correction in the wording.

— Presented the first reading of Policy DEC (Local), regarding employee leave.