Sabine ISD set to award contract for construction manager on field house

Sabine ISD is about to choose a construction manager for the new field house.

An unusually strong candidate field – 17 application packets by the Monday deadline instead of the usual half-dozen or so – may be attributed to the economy, said Superintendent Stacy Bryce, noting that the construction industry has been sluggish.

The construction committee – James Gray, Stephen Best, Todd Gibbs and the superintendent – will go through the candidates again Thursday to narrow them to three before interviewing the three and then selecting one to bring to the board to vote on.

The committee met twice and narrowed the field to five candidates by the time of Monday night’s school board meeting, said Bryce.

Once a manager is hired, subcontractor bids will go out in mid- March, said board president James Gray, who said they don’t expect the field house to be finished before the end of 2010 or early 2011.

In other board business, board members were told the district may see a surplus of $145,000 if the budget remains on its current course. Bryce attributed the overage to an increased Average Daily Attendance (ADA) of 11 students, with a roll that increased from the budgeted 1,226 to 1,237.

On the other hand, Sabine ISD tax collections are running about 10 percent below normal, Bryce said.

“A 10 percent decrease to me is alarming,” he said, noting that with the Texas state school funding scheme, the state makes up shortfalls.

The district discussed the 2010- 2011 school calendar, which calls for Aug. 23 as the first day of school, the end of the first semester on Dec. 17, Christmas holidays from Dec. 20-31 and January 4 as the first day of the new semester. Spring break will be March 14-18, June 2, 2011 will be the last day of school and graduation will be Saturday, June 4, 2011.

“Area superintendents met in November, and we built this calendar with the help of administrators,” said Bryce.

Ending the semester after the new year began was not well-received two years ago, he said.

“People didn’t like it at all,” he said.