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Bids are in and fields project hits a snag |
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Thursday, 21 May 2009 |
BY ABBY FOX
The school committee voted Tuesday to approve bids for the high school and middle school renovation and construction projects. First, $2,223,810 for a bid from E.W. Burman for the science lab work at the high school, which fits into the $2.2 million budget, and $1,197,000 for a bid from Lusi Construction, for the middle school reconstruction, which fits into the $1.3 budget. EW Burman was the least expensive out of seven bidders and Lusi was the least expensive out of three bidders.
“Two of three Burmans live in East Greenwich – it’s a strong local connection,” Project Manager Jon Winikur said. “We’re very happy they were successful. They have committed they will do everything in their power to get this done on time.”
Fields project to change
Fields Committee Chair Mike Feeney has learned that the cost to build an irrigation pond, instead of building a well, as had originally been conceived, could cost as much as $850,000, he told the school committee.
To pay for that, “Something’s got to give,” he said, and his idea is to take out the McHale portion of the fields project – two fields designated for youth sports – as that is slated to cost more than $900,000.
Jean Ann Guliano and Mary Ellen Winters weren’t pleased to hear that, saying they were frustrated at not being kept in the loop and didn’t want to lose McHale. “We made a commitment we were going to McHale” Guliano said, when voters approved the $6 million fields bond. Feeney replied that the need for an irrigation pond, a “significant development” that has taken the project managers by surprise, as they had understood from engineers and others that a well would suffice, was disappointing. But, he said, “I try not to brainstorm in the negative,” and tried to assure the committee they weren’t being left out of conversations. “I’m on the committee and I didn’t hear any of that,” Winters said and Feeney replied, “All of this has been discussed.”
Feeney is taking the irrigation cost issue to the town council on Wednesday, May 27.
Interim superintendent?
“We may have to hire an interim superintendent, which we anticipate won’t be a problem,” Guliano announced. There are six semi-finalists in the applicant pool for a superintendent to replace Charlie Meyers, she said, but by the time the school committee has weeded through them, a person may not be hired before the end of summer. Around Sept. 1 is the hiring goal, but “if we can get someone in before then,” she said, that would be great.
Youth initiative
Drug counselor Bob Houghtaling was there to give a report on the mental health of students, and their drug and alcohol use. For the first time in years, East Greenwich High School has an alcohol consumption percentage that’s higher than the state average, he said – 39 percent, compared to 38 percent for Rhode Island, according to survey data he collects.
What to do? Houghtaling said the community, the district, should work more to engage students to think about making healthy decisions, starting at the elementary level, and address issues like anxiety and depression earlier. “What you are seeing are more and more kids that have anxiety and depression,” he said, and compounded with East Greenwich’s economic disparities among the students, it’s not always a “level playing field.”
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