The Siloam Springs School District is one step closer to renovating the track facilities at Glenn W. Black Stadium.
School board members approved a contract with CEI Engineering Associates of Dallas, Texas, for civil engineering at their Nov. 13 meeting. The firm will provide engineering and architectural services, and will also manage subcontractors, according Jody Wiggins, assistant superintendent.
The school district and John Brown University announced a partnership last month to renovate track facilities at the middle school's stadium and share use of the facility. Under the memorandum of understanding, JBU will cover 50 percent of the cost of track renovation up to $400,000.
Renovations will include rebuilding the track subsurface and installing a higher quality running surface. The visitor's bleachers will be removed to provide space for the pole vault, long jump and triple jump areas, Wiggins said. The renovation will also add an area for steeplechase to one of the corners of the track for JBU, which will be offering the sport, and the school hopes to level the throwing field, he said. The football field surface is used for practice and will not be affected by the upgrades, he said.
CEI will charge the school 3.2 percent of bid prices for phase one and 3.2 percent for phase two, for a total of 6.4 percent. The fees fall in line with architectural fees, plus the school will be getting engineering services, Wiggins said.
CEI specializes in the design and project management of outdoor sports facility projects. The Dallas-based company has done a number of projects in Arkansas and Oklahoma, including at the Rogers and Bentonville High Schools, War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock and the Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, according to Jeff Bresee, professional engineer and CEI Dallas office manager.
"We're just excited to do it," Bresee told school board members. "We do a lot of these kinds of projects and we like the opportunity to provide the best we can. We've done many, many, and I think we can help you guys achieve not only what you need but hopefully what you want. We anticipate where the budget is a little tight, we'll be looking at a lot of alternates, so you'll have the ability to consider some of these costs versus what you're being offered in that and we're of course going to shoot for distance as much as we can get."
Design work was scheduled to begin as soon as the contract was approved on Tuesday, Wiggins said. He said he is hopeful the project will be put out to bid in February at the latest. Bresee said his company plans to begin construction as soon as track season is over in the second or third week of May and complete the renovations before school begins in August.
Safety preparations
In other business, Wiggins reported the school district has been training staff and implementing safety precautions in preparation for the release of recommendations from the Arkansas School Safety Commission later this month.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued an executive order to create the commission in March and has committed $300,000 to the Criminal Justice Institute for additional training for school resource officers and security assessments for schools, according to the Arkansas Department of Education website www.arkansased.gov.
Commissioners are tasked with evaluating school design, safety and security policies, emergency plans and policies, school counseling and mental health issues. They are also evaluating school-security data, including issues such as single-point entry, electronic access badges and school resource officers, the website states.
Wiggins reported that school resource officers and principals have done security a walk-through at each of the seven buildings in the district and discussed how safety could be improved.
Some of the improvements include adding safety film to the main entrances, which helps prevent windows from being completely broken out, and installing buzzer systems in all of the buildings requiring visitors to buzz in before doors are opened. All of the buildings already have an airlock system that requires visitors to go through two sets of doors to get into the office and several already have buzzer systems, Wiggins said.
Another safety measure will be establishing staff identity cards with scanning capabilities, which will be worn on lanyards or alligator clips. The cards will have common language commands on the back with bullet pointed directions to follow in case of each of those commands, Wiggins said.
Security measures are also being taken inside the classroom, he said. The district has seven different buildings, each with its own window and door configuration, so safety measures have been tailored to each building.
The district has established a district emergency response team as well as campus emergency response team, Wiggins said. The school has also signed up for a computer software system that will allow them to push out emergency messages to all of the district's computers and devices, he said.
School officials and Siloam Springs Police Officers have also gone through several training classes, including a National Threat Assessment Training in Bentonville, provided by the Secret Service and hosted by Sam's Club and a behavior training class at the Criminal Justice Institute in Little Rock, Wiggins said.
School board members took the following additional actions:
• Approved a statement of assurances required by the Arkansas Department of Education.
• Approved additional compensation for two intermediate school who serve more than 150 students.
• Approved the transfer of three students from the Gentry School District to the Siloam Springs School District.
General News on 11/21/2018