Sunflower County residents may soon know whether there will be one or two new high schools in the area.
At a special call meeting on Tuesday night the Sunflower County Consolidated School District (SCCSD) voted to hire Brown & Associates to facilitate the pre-planning process for the construction of either one or two schools. The agreement is contingent upon the firm being paid in three monthly installments
The firm is required to summit a status report at each interval.
A total of $125,000 has been allocated for the work to be done, which Adrian Brown, president, Brown and Associates said would include gathering input from the communities through meetings, paper and electronic surveys and more.
The firm is tasked to meet with community members to discuss the different options related to the construction of either a centrally located high school, a new Gentry High school or two new high schools, one on the north end and one on the south end of the 60-mile-tall county.
Brown said they are thankful and appreciative to the district for allowing them to help with their planning needs.
“We’re ecstatic about taking the lead in this planning process,” he said.
Brown said throughout his conversations with the district that the SCCSD has been adamant about hearing the voices of the people in the county. He emphasized that this is primarily an effort to get the local community’s feelings on what it will take to support the needs of the county.
The scope of what Brown and Associates has been hired to do is suppose to include all logistical aspects for the construction costs, options for possible funding sources and procedures for securing the funding, costs for the different facility construction options, information on structural issues with the current facilities and guidance in the final decision.
Although Brown cautions that what the district does with the information they supply is up to the SCCSD.
“Our job is to bring an objective process,” he said.
Brown also said that no location information has been given to them and they have no details regarding the cost and design of the new structure, all such questions should be directed to the district. He said community input is the scope of what they’ve been hired to do.
The board met with Brown on Thursday to scale down their original plan.
President Edward Thomas said of the three proposals received, Brown and Associates was the least expensive. Brown and Associates is expected to begin the process on or about September 15 and has three months to complete the work. Brown said he hopes to finish by the end of November but no later than December 15.
In other business,
They also voted to table a proposal from Ryan Burrage, an energy and sustainability account executive at Schneider Electric. According to information disclosed at the meeting, the board came prepared to approve a $161,521 expenditure and sign a contract for an exterior lighting upgrade on A.W. James Elementary in Drew, Ruleville Elementary, Carver Elementary and East Sunflower Elementary but during his presentation and conversation with the board, Burrage disclosed that the amount the board had was just for the lighting equipment only and did not cover related expenditures that now brings the cost to $437,522.
After a long discussion, board member Melanie Townsend concluded that she was not comfortable voting on the issue and especially since their were some essential elements missing from the contract and confusion about the cost. Board Attorney Carlos Palmer said he couldn’t advise the board to sign a contract that appeared to be incomplete.
