Bay City ISD trustees approved hiring Claycomb and Associates architecture firm for design and engineering documents for reconstruction of the old Tenie Holmes Elementary wing during their meeting, Nov. 16.
All board members were present at the meeting.
“I need the board to approve an amendment with Claycomb and Associates for the new third-grade wing at Tenie Holmes,” said BCISD Chief Financial Officer Richard Johnson.
“This is to help us go forward with design, planning, and engineering for the wing.”
BCISD closed the wing earlier this year because of mold problems.
Johnson added that the next step after approval would be to have Claycomb return to the board and provide information for the reconstruction of that wing.
“That’s when they’ll present us the options about the number of classrooms, designs and how much and so forth?” asked Board President James Scardami.
“Yes, that’s right – they will have all of that then,” answered Johnson.
Scardami expressed timeline concerns on the project during the meeting.
“Is this something we’re going to see come to us in December?” he asked.
“They didn’t necessarily give me an exact timeline,” said Johnson.
“They said they will be working as fast as possible to get it to me as soon as possible.”
“We can call a workshop in December if he’s ready for us by then,” said Scardami.
“But, if it’s not until January that’s fine with me.”
“In order to get the design we need to meet our needs it may take a couple of months,” said BCISD Superintendent Dr. Marshall Scott, III.
“That’s why I wanted to get the board’s insight on what they wanted.”
The board is looking at constructing a new wing on the old footprint with anywhere from 11 to 14 classrooms total.
“We’re accounting for growth and Claycomb’s recommendations,” said Scardami.
“I think it’s also important to know what the teachers think about this,” said Trustee Jill Westmoreland.
“We need their thoughts on what are the pros and cons of having grade level wings versus what we have now – which are content-based wings. I would love to be able to know that information.”
Westmoreland added that having more information would help discussion of the overall cost of the wing.
“I know there’s a $2 million difference between an eight-room wing and having 12 rooms,” she explained.
“My recommendation to the board is to look at being open with this wing serving either model, whether it’s content-based or grade level-based,” said Scott.
“I wouldn’t just design it for one, I would make sure that it could handle both or more. Those kinds of philosophies change over time.”
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