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PIERCETON -- Board member Pete Mitchell questioned $120,000 in change orders presented during the Whitko School Corp. meeting Monday.
A cost of $78,000 was given for integration software and another for $42,000 to remove and move dirt. Both items are related to the high school renovation project.
Construction Manager Dana Wannamacher of Barton Coe Vilamaa Architects explained the charges. He said the software system ties three monitoring systems together. The fire, building function and security systems were independent; now each can be accessed and checked on the Internet.
Mitchell asked why this cost wasn't considered during the bidding process and Wannamacher said it was. Not all bidders had the system. The software, which he described as cutting edge, could only be added with the Esco/Trane system.
"I just wonder if the lowest bid we received was an accurate low bid price or was this system added on at the convenience of the low bidder," Mitchell said.
Superintendent Jeff Hendrix said the system is proprietary.
Mitchell also wanted an explanation for the $42,000 charge to move dirt from the South Whitley Elementary School across the parking lot to where the multi-purpose room addition is being built.
"Forty-two thousand dollars to move our own dirt?" he asked. "How do we explain that to the public?"
Wannamacher said despite soil borings, poor soil areas were found right against the old school foundation and in other areas.
"It happens. They just didn't catch it," Wannamacher said, adding that there are charges associated with digging out an area and then filling it in. In this case, the school corporation was paying $42 per ton instead of $117 per ton if the contractors had to go off-site for the fill dirt.
Hendrix said the first few days at the high school were uneventful. An orientation Wednesday for students and parents went well despite advising the students there are no lockers to use because of ongoing construction.
He said the usual problems with missed busses were reported, otherwise things are going well.
South Whitley Elementary School Principal Barb Flora thanked custodial staffers for painting the school walls and for the renovations to the office completed over the summer. She said the improvements have been well received.
Transportation Director Mike Sands demonstrated a new software program being used by his department and the bus drivers.
The "Transfinder Routing System" maps all bus routes, indicates where each student lives and provides a variety of other functions.
"The routes are marked and easily accessible," Sands said. "I can mark eight routes in an afternoon now instead of two."
New staff members were introduced: for Whitko High School: Megan Alcock, resource teacher; Rachael LePage, counselor; for Whitko Middle School: Candice Preston, resource teacher; Kelly Veatch, mental health therapist; for Pierceton Elementary School: Jennifer Bruce, Title I teacher; Erin Nash, grade five teacher; and Brenda Landrigan, lunch clerk; for South Whitley Elementary School: Janelle Keefer, grade-one teacher; Jamilyn Reckard, full-day kindergarten teacher; Kandy Dold, preschool teacher; Kimberly Kelly, afternoon kindergarten teacher; Tara Gilson, physical education assistant; and bus drivers Edith Johnson and Anita Shenneman.
The board also:
• Approved several personnel items: the retirement of PES teacher James Vosberg; the resignations of SWES preschool teacher Sarah DeSonne, SWES cook Rachel Phend; PES cook Sonja Keener; bus driver Lisa Keirn, student council sponsor Andrew Layman and WHS girls' track coach Mike McKeighen; the discontinuations of WMS cheerleader coach Nola Alma and seventh-grade boys basketball coach Matt Tolson.
• Approved hiring Jenn Reese Bruce as a PES Title I teacher; Mandy Kling's transfer from WMS resource teacher to PES resource teacher; Lynn Studebaker's transfer from WMS Title I teacher to SWES Title I teacher; DeeDee Maggard's change from fall sports coach to winter sports coach at PES and as girls freshman basketball coach at WHS; Heather Chalk as girls freshman volleyball coach; Tracy Rhodes and Brenda Braddock as afternoon shuttle drivers; Dana Sellers as PES instructional assistant; Megan Alcock as WHS girls track coach; John Thomas Burris and Ben Thompson as instructors at WHS; and Melissa Bollinger as WHS marching band assistant.
School board members are Hal Trump, Pete Mitchell, Deb Collier, Dave Tranter and Mike Braddock.
