Valley School Board Looks at Capital Projects Fund
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Monday night, the school board spent almost three hours going over the preliminary CPF for 2016, which is estimated at $2,570,984.
Superintendent Brett Boggs said work on the 2016 budget began in May. Last week Boggs, Assistant Superintendent Blaine Conley and Corporation Treasurer Jessica McFarland attended a budget workshop with the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance and Indiana Department of Education for information to prepare next year’s budget.
On Aug. 17, the board will have a budget work session at 7 p.m. at the administration office. At that meeting, the board also will be asked to approved for the budget to be advertised.
A public hearing on the proposed 2016 budget will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 21, with the board asked to adopt the budget Oct. 12 during its regular monthly meeting.
Boggs told the board the CPF includes such things as technology, equipment and maintenance. State law limits CPF money to be used to pay for utilities and insurance to 3.5 percent of the 2005 state distribution.
The Indiana General Assembly requires a three-year plan for the CPF. Boggs said 2016 is the first year of that plan and was the focus of Monday’s meeting.
Keith Lang, TVSC technology director, reviewed the technology needs for each of Valley’s schools.
Valley’s schools are on a four-year rotation for computer upgrades. Each year, $125,000 is budgeted for that “refreshment,” Lang explained.
Akron Elementary’s upgrade will be in 2017. With the Akron building project scheduled to be completed in 2018, board member Dave O’Brien asked if they would want to wait for Akron’s upgrade until then. Boggs said the new equipment will go into the new building.
Lang said Tippecanoe Valley High School’s upgrade is scheduled for 2018. Also, if they wait another year for Akron’s upgrade, that will make the school’s technology a year older and repair costs could increase.
O’Brien said it was just a suggestion and they could consider his idea next year.
After a few items on Burket Educational Center’s list, Lang then discussed Mentone Elementary. This was Mentone’s year to have its technology upgraded. He listed the upgrades including approximately 320 new devices replacing what the school already had. All are coming with a five-year warranty – one year from the manufacturer and four years from the refurbisher.
Lang mentioned more security cameras were being installed this summer at Tippecanoe Valley Middle School, and that the student devices at TVHS have two more years on their leasing program. The warranty for the 700 devices at the high school expired this year so if something goes wrong, Valley’s technology department will have to repair or replace parts.
He then concluded his remarks by talking about needs at the administration building. Those include technology staff pay, machines needing replaced, software support, Internet filtering, school website hosting, parent notification system, staff development and educational software.
Maintenance Director Todd Glenn reviewed his department’s expenses for 2016.
At Akron, Glenn said they are in a “maintain” mode right now because of the building project.
The roof at Burket is in good shape, but the playground at the alternative learning school is a “point of discussion,” he said.
Boggs said the playground is the only one in the Burket community so Valley wants to keep it there for the kids.
Glenn said the big question is what they want there. If his department sees something unsafe there, they fix it, but the equipment is getting old.
Also at Burket, Glenn said, the geothermal system loses one compressor a year at a cost of $7,000.
The roof at Mentone Elementary is in good condition overall, Glenn said, but the west side is an asphalt roof that needs replaced. He said they’re maintaining it right now until they can accumulate enough funds to fix it.
The parking lot at Mentone was redone 2-1/2 years ago, he said, but the last two winters “have been rough on them,” he said.
The drinking fountains at Mentone also are “rough and cruddy,” he said, and are obsolete. They all need updated.
Tom Craft, board member, said Mentone is Valley’s newest school and they’re already needing to replace the drinking fountains.
Glenn replied that Mentone is Valley’s nicest looking school, but it is 15 years old.
Roof repairs at TVMS have put the middle school’s roof in decent shape now, while the northwest side of the parking lot is pretty much shot. Glenn wants to hold off on repaving the lot until 2017.
Glenn said he also wants to get a mowing tractor at the middle school similar to the one at Akron, and the hot water heater at TVMS is something the board needs to put on its radar. The boiler, chiller and energy management system also will need to be addressed within the next couple of years.
At TVHS, the roof is in decent shape and still under warranty. The pool, however, will need some tile replacement soon so Glenn said they were accumulating funds for that.
“That pool is used by a lot of groups,” Glenn said.
O’Brien asked if the main gym floor still had some life in it. Glenn responded a bad roof leak could negatively affect it, and it only has one sanding left before it will need replaced.
After Glenn was finished, Conley discussed software Valley was looking to use to track all students who get on and off its school buses. The software also will help Valley lower the number of miles buses travel, thus lowering fuel costs.
“GPS will help us have those conversations with bus drivers and parents,” Conley said.
A feature of the program also will notify parents by text if a bus is late, if the parent wants to receive the notification.
“I think it’s a good deal,” said Board President Bryan Murphy.
Another item Conley brought up was the school bus replacement plan. For 2016, Valley was scheduled to replace three buses. However, Conley suggested Valley replace two regular buses and get a white activity bus instead of a third yellow bus. The activity bus is required by state law to be white and seats less than 16 students. It can be used by smaller groups or teams. A person driving the activity bus does not need a commercial drivers license so a coach can drive it. The buses also get 12 to 15 miles per gallon on regular gas, whereas a regular bus gets 7 or 8 mpg on diesel.
“I like the idea,” Murphy said.
Conley said the projected cost for the activity bus is around $47,000. A regular bus costs more than three times that.[[In-content Ad]]
Monday night, the school board spent almost three hours going over the preliminary CPF for 2016, which is estimated at $2,570,984.
Superintendent Brett Boggs said work on the 2016 budget began in May. Last week Boggs, Assistant Superintendent Blaine Conley and Corporation Treasurer Jessica McFarland attended a budget workshop with the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance and Indiana Department of Education for information to prepare next year’s budget.
On Aug. 17, the board will have a budget work session at 7 p.m. at the administration office. At that meeting, the board also will be asked to approved for the budget to be advertised.
A public hearing on the proposed 2016 budget will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 21, with the board asked to adopt the budget Oct. 12 during its regular monthly meeting.
Boggs told the board the CPF includes such things as technology, equipment and maintenance. State law limits CPF money to be used to pay for utilities and insurance to 3.5 percent of the 2005 state distribution.
The Indiana General Assembly requires a three-year plan for the CPF. Boggs said 2016 is the first year of that plan and was the focus of Monday’s meeting.
Keith Lang, TVSC technology director, reviewed the technology needs for each of Valley’s schools.
Valley’s schools are on a four-year rotation for computer upgrades. Each year, $125,000 is budgeted for that “refreshment,” Lang explained.
Akron Elementary’s upgrade will be in 2017. With the Akron building project scheduled to be completed in 2018, board member Dave O’Brien asked if they would want to wait for Akron’s upgrade until then. Boggs said the new equipment will go into the new building.
Lang said Tippecanoe Valley High School’s upgrade is scheduled for 2018. Also, if they wait another year for Akron’s upgrade, that will make the school’s technology a year older and repair costs could increase.
O’Brien said it was just a suggestion and they could consider his idea next year.
After a few items on Burket Educational Center’s list, Lang then discussed Mentone Elementary. This was Mentone’s year to have its technology upgraded. He listed the upgrades including approximately 320 new devices replacing what the school already had. All are coming with a five-year warranty – one year from the manufacturer and four years from the refurbisher.
Lang mentioned more security cameras were being installed this summer at Tippecanoe Valley Middle School, and that the student devices at TVHS have two more years on their leasing program. The warranty for the 700 devices at the high school expired this year so if something goes wrong, Valley’s technology department will have to repair or replace parts.
He then concluded his remarks by talking about needs at the administration building. Those include technology staff pay, machines needing replaced, software support, Internet filtering, school website hosting, parent notification system, staff development and educational software.
Maintenance Director Todd Glenn reviewed his department’s expenses for 2016.
At Akron, Glenn said they are in a “maintain” mode right now because of the building project.
The roof at Burket is in good shape, but the playground at the alternative learning school is a “point of discussion,” he said.
Boggs said the playground is the only one in the Burket community so Valley wants to keep it there for the kids.
Glenn said the big question is what they want there. If his department sees something unsafe there, they fix it, but the equipment is getting old.
Also at Burket, Glenn said, the geothermal system loses one compressor a year at a cost of $7,000.
The roof at Mentone Elementary is in good condition overall, Glenn said, but the west side is an asphalt roof that needs replaced. He said they’re maintaining it right now until they can accumulate enough funds to fix it.
The parking lot at Mentone was redone 2-1/2 years ago, he said, but the last two winters “have been rough on them,” he said.
The drinking fountains at Mentone also are “rough and cruddy,” he said, and are obsolete. They all need updated.
Tom Craft, board member, said Mentone is Valley’s newest school and they’re already needing to replace the drinking fountains.
Glenn replied that Mentone is Valley’s nicest looking school, but it is 15 years old.
Roof repairs at TVMS have put the middle school’s roof in decent shape now, while the northwest side of the parking lot is pretty much shot. Glenn wants to hold off on repaving the lot until 2017.
Glenn said he also wants to get a mowing tractor at the middle school similar to the one at Akron, and the hot water heater at TVMS is something the board needs to put on its radar. The boiler, chiller and energy management system also will need to be addressed within the next couple of years.
At TVHS, the roof is in decent shape and still under warranty. The pool, however, will need some tile replacement soon so Glenn said they were accumulating funds for that.
“That pool is used by a lot of groups,” Glenn said.
O’Brien asked if the main gym floor still had some life in it. Glenn responded a bad roof leak could negatively affect it, and it only has one sanding left before it will need replaced.
After Glenn was finished, Conley discussed software Valley was looking to use to track all students who get on and off its school buses. The software also will help Valley lower the number of miles buses travel, thus lowering fuel costs.
“GPS will help us have those conversations with bus drivers and parents,” Conley said.
A feature of the program also will notify parents by text if a bus is late, if the parent wants to receive the notification.
“I think it’s a good deal,” said Board President Bryan Murphy.
Another item Conley brought up was the school bus replacement plan. For 2016, Valley was scheduled to replace three buses. However, Conley suggested Valley replace two regular buses and get a white activity bus instead of a third yellow bus. The activity bus is required by state law to be white and seats less than 16 students. It can be used by smaller groups or teams. A person driving the activity bus does not need a commercial drivers license so a coach can drive it. The buses also get 12 to 15 miles per gallon on regular gas, whereas a regular bus gets 7 or 8 mpg on diesel.
“I like the idea,” Murphy said.
Conley said the projected cost for the activity bus is around $47,000. A regular bus costs more than three times that.[[In-content Ad]]
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