Mitchell school board signs off on bid plans for fine arts center

The Mitchell Board of Education gave its OK on Monday to release the bid documents to contractors for the proposed fine arts center and learned a little bit more about the costs associated with the building.

The school board voted 5-0 to approve the bid documents during the board's regular meeting at Longfellow Elementary School.

Mitchell Superintendent Joe Graves said a best-case scenario is that the district would be able to release the bids later this month and receive them back in about 30 days. He said the district would then call a special board meeting on either Jan. 27 or Feb. 24 to approve the bids, nail down the cost and get the board's final approval. That would set the construction schedule in motion.

The school board heard from Sioux Falls-based MSH Architects CEO Robin Miller, who provided large-scale schematic drawings of the proposed project and broke down the costs in more detail.

The building is estimated to cost about $11.75 million. In that cost is about $750,000 worth of alternates that will be separate from the base bid and would give the school board flexibility when approving the bids, according to Miller. Another $750,000 would go toward soft costs, which include architects, engineers, surveyors, financiers and attorneys fees. Miller explained that the final $1 million in costs would be for equipment, such as furniture and a contingency, which makes up about 30 percent of that $1 million.

Those prices don't include the cost of a general contractor, who would oversee the entire project. It was unclear whether the use of a general contractor could reduce bid prices to save the school money or whether it would be an additional cost.

Earlier this year, the board heard that the building will cost the district about $18 million when factoring in interest, based on figures from July.

Board member Lacey Musick wanted to know how the numbers were being figured and how accurate the estimate was before the bids went out. MSH's Steve Thompson said the numbers are figured through regional costs, experience and getting estimates from contractors they've worked with before.

"I just want to have accurate numbers so we can get an idea of where we're going," Musick said.

Mixed bag for Mitchell school lunch

It's a good news, bad news scenario for the Mitchell food service department so far this school year. The district has closed its difference between revenue and expenses to about $10,000 and Food Services Director Sean Moen said students are taking to the menu offerings. But participation rates are down, especially at the high school level, where the school's director said the district can't compete with area businesses.

High school students in grades 10-12 can leave the campus for lunch and Moen said there's not much they can do to stop it, since the school doesn't offer hamburgers and french fries as much.

"We can't cater to those kids anymore, we can't stop them from going to Taco John's or Pizza Hut or doing whatever they want," Moen said.

Moen said that's taken a cut into the district's ala carte revenue as well, since 95 percent of those funds come from high schoolers. But the district has brought in $552,000 in revenue, only $10,000 back from the $562,000 spent to date.

"We're in a much better position this year than we were last year, obviously," he said.

Overall, 58 percent of the district's students are eating lunch, as opposed to 65 percent last year. For school breakfast, there was a 4 percent drop.

Over the summer, the district raised lunch prices to $2.65 at the district's elementary schools, $2.85 in the middle school and high school, and $3.70 for an adult. That was done with the hope the school would close the growing gap between costs and revenue.

The district incurred higher costs, in part because of more federal standards from the National School Lunch Program, which had mandated that more whole grains, fruits and vegetables be included.

Moen said items on the menu such as flatbreads and wraps have been popular, along with craisins and pre-cut apples at lower-grade levels.

"The other day, the middle school students with braces stopped by and shook my hand," he joked.

Board member Neil Putnam, who serves on the National School Boards Association Board of Directors, said the rising costs continue to be a national talking point.

"It's an issue for schools smaller than ours and especially those that can't afford to buy in large economies of scale or they're in a location that's far from distributors," he said.

District approves advanced math, geography

The school board approved a plan to allow middle school students in Mitchell to advance ahead and take a pair of classes -- Algebra II and Geography -- and earn high school credit before ninth grade.

The change will likely only affect one or two students per year, but the board approved the plan unanimously, despite the concerns of one high school teacher.

Math teacher Tom Berg said he had some concern about whether or not students in eighth grade would be mature enough to handle classes that were two or three years above their grade level. He said students need to understand math beyond just formulas and equations and have to have a sense of what they're learning.

"At ninth grade, I'm just a little concerned about the maturity level," he said.

The district already allows students to take Algebra I and Geometry in middle school and earn high school credit. Middle School Principal Justin Zajic said the Algebra II course will be extremely rigorous for an eighth-grader.

"Not a lot of kids fit that profile," he said.

Other business

During the board's regular meeting Monday, the school board:

• Recognized three teachers for recent awards: Cheryl Miller, who was honored as Middle School Teacher of the Year, by Shape South Dakota, formerly the South Dakota Society of Health and Physical Educators; Renee Berg as recipient of two grants for art projects; and Julie Olson for writing a successful Toshiba America Foundation grant for $9,000.

• Approved board minutes, claims, personnel and open enrollments as part of a consent agenda. The two personnel items include the new hire of Blaine Bacon as eighth-grade boys basketball coach at $1,959 and the resignation of Angela Sivertsen as competitive cheer and football sideline coach, pending the finding suitable replacement.

• Held a public hearing and then approved waivers for Algebra II and Geography courses, so they may be offered at Mitchell Middle School for high school credit, as part of the district's mass customized learning options.

• Approved, on first reading, changes to board policy 110 at Mitchell Technical Institute regarding primary purposes and core values, as part of the school's accreditation process.

• Approved a supplemental budget request to accommodate a $2.4 million grant received by MTI from the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant Program to be used primarily for the school's energy program.

• Heard board member reports and superintendent's report.

• Took a tour of Longfellow Elementary School.

• Conducted an executive session regarding a personnel issue for about 45 minutes; following that, as it pertained to employee issue "1-2014," the board voted 5-0 in favor of a district employee with regards to a grievance brought to the board. Because it pertained to personnel, Graves did not divulge any further details.