By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 approved a request for $347,160 to replace student and staff iPads at Hays Middle School at its meeting on Monday night.
The $347,160 purchase is part of the district's budgeted four-year rotation of school devices.
Scott Summers, USD 489 technology director, said the new iPads are comparable to the ones they are replacing. The new devices will have touch pads, which the previous models did not have. The purchase includes cases.
The district will sell the old devices to a recycling company for $40 to $50 each. That company will be responsible for wiping the devices before they are disposed of.
Summers said he asked teachers if they wanted to transition the students to laptops. He said the overwhelming feedback was to keep the iPads because of students' ability to write on them.
The district will pay for the purchase out of capital outlay funds.
Hays Middle School Construction
The district approved a $184,560 quote from Viztum Commercial Flooring for work at Hays Middle School. Several classrooms were not part of the bond-funded renovations completed in December.
The district decided at the beginning of the project that district staff would complete the work on rooms that only needed flooring and paint to avoid the higher costs of using a construction company, Superintendent Ron Wilson said.
An alternate bid for the cafeteria was included in the quote. Wilson said if the concrete under the cafeteria tile is in good shape, the district plans to polish it rather than lay tile over it. That would be done by district staff and decrease the cost of the Viztum contract, Wilson said.
Viztum installed flooring in other parts of the middle school and honored its bid from the previous work, Chris Hipp, assistant superintendent of business, said.
The district will pay for the contract out of capital outlay funds.
Hipp said the district is still finalizing a quote for epoxy flooring in the middle school bathrooms. It will recommend IronClad Concrete Coatings, which also completed similar work in the school last year. The estimate is just less than $28,000.
Felten Elementary School asbestos
Additional asbestos was found in the demolition phase of the renovations at Felten Elementary School. The asbestos was in the flooring mastic. The district had not anticipated finding additional asbestos, but the mastic was under layers of newer carpet and tile.
The board approved a $29,417 change order for additional asbestos removal.
Board members Allen Park and Derek Yarmer voted against the motion. Both board members expressed frustration that the district was not aware of the additional asbestos in the building. Park requested the asbestos evaluation reports for the last six years.
The district will pay for the contract out of capital outlay funds.
In other business, the board:
• Heard a report on the school improvement plan
• Approved administrator and director contract language changes