Concession building costs trimmed

BERNE — After several cuts and substitutions, the cost of the new concessions building at South Adams is down to a more feasible amount. 

At its meeting Tuesday, South Adams School Board heard an update on the planning process for the construction of the building, which is delayed until the summer. 

Board members also took the first step in changing how they will be paid in 2019. 

In December, the board received two bids for the construction of a new concession, restroom and press box building at the Harry F. Anderson baseball field. Both were higher than the $197,000 budgeted for the project — Marquis Builders bid $261,600 and Allen County Builders bid $404,000. 

The project was initially slated to be completed by the end of March. The board selected Marquis Builders’ bid with the goal of trimming the cost and delayed the project until after baseball season to save money. 

Superintendent Scott Litwiller presented the board with an updated bid for the project on Tuesday. Changing to a summer schedule will save an estimated $8,500, he said. Other changes include switching to cheaper materials for the walls and ceiling, eliminating some extras like cabinets and having South Adams employees do some of the work themselves, such as painting and grass seeding. 

Litwiller advised against other adjustments, such as getting rid of some windows in the press box and switching to wood frame construction for the first floor. 

If the board accepted the changes Litwiller is recommending, the total savings would be $50,670, bringing the estimated cost of construction down to $210,930. 

The altogether estimated cost of the project, including the architect’s fee, sewer hookup and demolition of the current building, is about $251,000, meaning the board still has to find an additional $54,000 to cover the remaining costs. Of the $197,000 budgeted for the project, $97,000 is leftover from renovation work completed last year and $100,000 is from donations through Adams County Community Foundation. 

“I see two possibilities; one is the rainy day fund. We did allocate some construction money when we did the 2019 budget out of the rainy day fund,” Litwiller said.

The other option is to use about $44,000 set aside for sports facilities, but Litwiller said it was intended to reseal and paint the tennis courts this summer. 

The board will vote on the revised bid at its March meeting.

Also on Tuesday, the board took the initial step to change its pay schedule. In the past, board members have received payments of $1,000 every six months for a total yearly salary of $2,000. 

At January’s meeting, however, board president Arlene Amstutz proposed changing to a combination of per meeting payments and a stipend to encourage better attendance. She said there were three meetings in 2018 when only four of the seven members were present. 

“When a person’s not here your district that you’re representing has lost their one vote power, because you only have power in a school board meeting,” Amstutz said. “There was times where I felt I was making too many of the decisions and the rest of you were not making the decisions.”

The schedule Amstutz proposed would pay board members $100 per monthly meeting and for the budget work session to total $1,300, with a stipend of $700 to be split into two payments. It would still add up to the $2,000 salary for the board. 

Several board members disagreed that the per-meeting pay would be an incentive.

“I don’t feel like there are people missing just because they don’t take it seriously,” said Amy Orr.  “I think each one of us weighs whether or not we should or shouldn’t do this other thing that we’re supposed to be doing at the same time. We have to make that call.” 

Ultimately, the board approved a first reading of a policy adjustment allowing the change. Julie Mansfield, John Buckingham, John Mann, Landon Patterson and Amstutz voted in favor of the proposal. Orr dissented, and Mitch Sprunger was absent. 

In other business, the board: 

•Renewed contracts with athletic director Jason Arnold, high school principal Trent Lehman, curriculum director Joe Meyer, elementary school principal Shellie Miller and middle school principal Jeff Rich for two years. 

Each was given the same dollar amount raise that teachers were given — $800 added onto their base salaries — and were given one-time bonuses depending on their evaluation ratings from 2018. 

Meyer was given an additional raise of $1,614. The board also approved a raise for assistant technology director Nathan Houser, increasing his base hourly pay to $25 from $21.94 effective Jan 1. 

•Approved a field trip to Haiti for Dots in Blue Water, which is expecting to take its ninth annual trip. The tentative dates are June 4 to 11, with 15 students and 12 adults expected to travel. 

•Approved a rental agreement for the Community Development Institute, which operates migrant childcare and preschool services. The board agreed to let CDI use rooms and the kitchen from June 1 to Aug. 2. 

•Accepted a donation of $10,000 from the family of Phyllis Zehr Stogdill to buy musical instruments for the school. South Adams also received a $125 anonymous donation to pay half the entry fee for the middle school boys basketball team to compete in an off-season league. 

•OK’d FMLA leave for Vickie Hough and parental leave for Alanna Drennen. Also hired Julie Baumer, Andrew Sommer and Allison Crider as IREAD Bootcamp tutors. 

•Also hired spring sporting staff. Head coach for the baseball coach is Brad Buckingham; boys golf head coach is Josh Hendrixson; Clint Anderson is head coach for the girls and boys track teams; the softball team’s head coach is Jessie O’Dell; and Cindy Greer is head coach for girls tennis. 

•Congratulated Gary McMillan, instructor of the automotive services technology program, for its recognition as a program of excellence by the state association for career and technical education.

•Approved on second reading several policies, including leaves of absence policies, designating computer science as a mandatory course, a policy requiring parent notification before providing instruction on human sexuality and allowing parents to opt their child out of instruction. 

•Were informed of changes to state testing for third through eighth graders this year as Indiana switches to ILEARN. The test will be administered in a four-week window from April 22 to May 17. Some of the differences from ISTEP are that it is computer adaptive; the sessions will be untimed; students will be rated as below proficient, approaching proficient, proficient or above proficient; and it is estimated to reduce testing time by an average of two hours per student.