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MENTONE - With school starting a little more than a week away, the renovations of Tippecanoe Valley High School are still in the works.
Monday, David A. Mankowski of Skillman Corp. gave a report to the Tippecanoe Valley School Board on where the improvement project stands.
Mankowski said the base pavement in all the areas was laid down Monday. Striping of the parking lots should occur the first of next week.
The masonry restoration has started. The washing of the pre-cast is taking place now.
"The north entrance is complete as far as the new concrete goes," he said. "When all is said and done, it will turn out good."
The aluminum entrances are supposed to be done by the end of the week except for the north entrance.
As for the interior, Mankowski said they've been testing the kitchen equipment.
The last couple of days, he said he hit all Skillman Corp.'s projects in northern Indiana and everyone is strained on manpower. His concern right now is casework, which is behind because of the shortage of manpower.
Carpeting is going down in the classrooms and should be completed by the end of this week or early next week. Painters have been painting the existing lockers. One of the varsity lockerrooms is done. "It's looking really good," he said.
When students return to school, the corridors are "not going to be pretty," he reported. Cleaning people are being schedule to have as much of the school ready for school as possible.
As for work on the school's pool, Mankowski said the schedule is worked out and should begin at the end of August. The first thing that will be done is a check for any leaks while there is water in the pool. Once that is done, the pool will be drained and work will begin. He said they will have the pool ready to go by Oct. 1.
As far as getting the students back in the classrooms, Mankowski said the classrooms will be ready on time, though the corridors may not be.
The board decided to tour through the building Aug. 16 at 2:30 p.m. to see how the work has progressed.
In other business, the school board:
• Approved the 2005-06 teacher assignments and extracurricular assignments.
• Approved the contract for facility use with Area Five Head Start at Akron Elementary School.
• Approved the contract for facility use with Kosciusko County Head Start/Cardinal Center Inc. at Mentone Elementary School.
• Approved changes to school board policies regarding attendance, transfers, student attendance, involvement of law enforcement officials, student welfare, exit interview designee and dress and appearance.
• Approved the 2005-06 teacher contracts and classified salaries.
• Approved Alissa Trippiedi as a half-time algebra teacher at TVHS and Nicole Finn as an a.m. kindergarten teacher at Akron Elementary School.
Members of the Valley School Board are president Dave O'Brien, Mark Wise, Hal Hoffman, Bryan Murphy and Rod Eaton. Their next meetings are a budget hearing Aug. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Mentone Elementary School and Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m. also at Mentone.
