Cape school board awards contracts for demolition of old Franklin school

Bids for demolition of the soon-to-be old Franklin Elementary School and site improvements for the new school were approved during the Cape Girardeau School Board meeting Monday.

Board members approved awarding a $171,600 contract to Premier Demolition Inc. for tearing down the old school building after the school year ends in May. A new $10 million school will open in August. The project is the costliest item in a long list of improvements in the school district financed by $40 million in bonds approved by voters in 2010.

The board also authorized a contract with Brockmiller Construction Inc. for $136,000 in general works on the new school, as well as $94,200 for site grading and $27,000 for ornamental iron fencing. All bids approved by the board came from the lowest bidders, per the recommendation of McCarthy Building Cos., the construction management firm hired by the district.

Other business

Two evaluations of district programs were also given during the meeting.

Rich Payne, director of the Career and Technology Center, gave programs at the center an overall rating of "excellent."

The center was recently reaccredited for a five-year period by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

Payne also gave an overview of the center's finances for the previous year, which had expenses of $4.4 million and revenue of $4.1 million. The revenue figures did not account, however, for the courses and services provided to students at Cape Girardeau Central High School, and when considering those, the center saw a surplus of $126,000.

"Dollars and sense-wise, I think this shows we are doing some really good things in the district," Payne said.

Curriculum coordinator Theresa Hinkebein presented an evaluation of the district's curriculum to the board, which she also rated as "excellent."

Hinkebein said the district's curriculum is aligned with all course and grade-level standards set by the state, but challenges the district faces with curriculum are that it is sometimes difficult to maintain alignment with state and federal standards that are constantly changing.

"We are always dealing with that by updating and shifting our instructional practices," she said.

Ongoing planning for appropriate professional development for staff also helps, she said.

Hinkebein said the district has dates set for this summer for changing over to the state's new Common Core Standards and the standardized tests that will follow. The district will transition into preparing staff and students for the tests over the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years as Missouri Assessment Program standardized tests are phased out and the new standards are implemented.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

301 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau, MO