School Board Reduces Construction Costs

PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove School Board members spent most of their meeting last week discussing ways to save money on four projects under construction.

Bids for the work came in a little higher than expected, $ 14.8 million, and school officials and representatives with C. R. Crawford and Hight-Jackson architectural firm have been looking for ways to reduce the cost. The district is building a new high school competitive basketball gym, a new elementary school addition, a storm shelter and a new concession stand and bathrooms at the football field.

After the first round of reductions, which equaled more than $500,000, school board members accepted a guaranteed maximum price of $14.3 million for the four projects. This does not include architectural and other fees.

The School Board voted on additional cost- saving measures at its June 16 meeting. These reductions totaled about $ 120,000. Other recommendations are still being discussed and will be approved at future board meetings.

If the school board decided to do everything on the list, the district could save more than $950,000.

“Some things we are waiting to decide on,” Allen Williams, superintendent, said after the meeting. “We will not do the whole list. Some items we will not want to consider.”

Some of the changes approved last week include eliminating covered walkways at the primary addition and reducing the number of toilets in the bathroom facility at the football field.

Board members , however, decided against a few cost- saving ideas. One proposed saving was to delete a sidewalk on the west side of the new elementary addition. The board wanted to keep the sidewalk. Another proposal was to delete the decorative letters at the new entryway to the football field. Board members decided to keep the letters.

In all, the school hopes to reduce the total cost by about $ 750,000, Williams said.

Board member Jerry Coyle thanked C.R. Crawford and Hight-Jackson for working with the school to come up with cost saving ideas.

In other action, the School Board renewed insurance for the district’s 41 vehicles with Arkansas Insurance Department for $14,161 and approved student insurance with K& K Insurance for $7,310.

The board also approved its annual tuition agreement with Northwest Technical Institute. Tuition costs $ 541.66 for one block per semester and $ 812.50 for two blocks per semester. The Arkansas Department of Career Education reimburses Prairie Grove tuition fees for its students who attend NTI.

The board accepted a policy change as recommended by the Personnel Policy Committees for certified and classified employees. The new policy says that unused personal leave at the end of each fiscal year will be added to an employee’s accumulated sick leave. Employees who have accumulated 90 or more sick days at the end of a year will be paid $55 per day for each day of unused personal leave. Employees receive three days of personal leave each year.

The board accepted resignations from teacher Judy Moore, who retired from the high school, and assistant band director Matthew Pohl.

After executive session, the board voted to hire Jill Hollowell as a special education teacher at Prairie Grove Primary School.