M-P school board gets facilities updates

By Molly Roberts
Posted 8/10/21

At their regular meeting on Monday, Aug. 9, the Mid-Prairie Board of Education received updated information about facilities plans from Carl A. Nelson, Inc., including updated cost projections for …

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M-P school board gets facilities updates

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At their regular meeting on Monday, Aug. 9, the Mid-Prairie Board of Education received updated information about facilities plans from Carl A. Nelson, Inc., including updated cost projections for many possible facilities projects, such as building an auditorium at the high school and paving new bus lanes at the elementary schools.

Carl A. Nelson provided figures in January 2020, but plans were put on hold due to the pandemic. Those prices are no longer accurate, as they reflected projected costs for 2021. Due to inflation and other factors, construction costs increase about 3-3.5% per year, said a representative from Carl A. Nelson. The new figures given to the board reflect cost projections for 2023.

No action was taken regarding facilities, but during the work session board members were able to ask questions while representatives from Carl A. Nelson were present.

In other business, superintendent Mark Schneider said the modular classrooms that will host music classes at East and West Elementary have been delivered and construction crews are working to get them ready for the start of school on Aug. 23.

The board approved the acquisition of the modular classrooms in April 2021 after hearing from the music teachers that they needed more space to conduct their classes. The board approved a 36-month lease with VESTA Modular for two two-classroom units in July.

“We’re trying to move forward as fast as we can, but we have to wait for construction,” Schneider said. “We are going to try to focus on West first because their students have always had separate classrooms [for music], whereas East last year had the teacher travel from classroom to classroom.”

The board also approved the first reading of changes to the Board Policies Series 200, approved a bank depository resolution that denotes how many funds can be kept in each financial institution and approved the ESSER III spending plan, which includes 20% of funds to be spent on lost learning.