ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The USD 480 school board made quick work of its new business at its most recent meeting Monday evening.
Up first for the board was the second reading and ultimate approval of Policy JGG concerning transportation. Changes in the policy include bus rider eligibility, transportation denial appeals process and formatting.
After that quick discussion, the board then moved on to a request for a rain screen for Maskus Auditorium at Liberal High School.
“USD 480 did solicit bids to furnish and install a rain screen exterior around the auditorium at Liberal High School, and three bids were received: Osborne Construction out of Topeka, in the amount of $2,176,581; Diamond Roofing out of Dodge City, in the amount of $2,487,000; and Icon Structures out of Wichita, in the amount of $2,754,000,” Board President Alan Brown said. “I did have one question, is the overall design the same as the one we saw before?”
“Yes, the design is the same as the one we’d shown everyone before,” Director of Operations Chad Mease said.
Architect One President/Architect Scott Gales was on hand to answer some other questions for the board.
“Between education and worship facilities, we’ve worked on many, many projects like this as far as remodeling,” Gales said. “We do work throughout Kansas, and we’ve actually got some projects going on in other states. One of the factors that’s fueled us is how there’s a superintendent within an hour of Liberal, and they’ve been pursuing projects in this market. Something else that’s allowed us to pursue this project is we have a national account with, I believe, Tesla, and they’ve been installing their electrical charging facilities from the east coast to the west coast, and it’s to complement the rest of their construction services since they’re very mobile and can work from one end of the U.S. to the other, including Kansas. They like to create opportunities for themselves and when they heard there was a project in Liberal, they wanted to fly in and be a part of everything, and they’re very excited. I’d also be happy to supply the board with a complete list of other projects we’ve been part of, and all of our qualifications are available upon request.”
“What about bonds, is there anything we need to know in regard to that?” Brown asked.
“Yes, we’re going for two bonds. We’re required by statute for a performance bond and a paper bond,” Mease said. “Any bidder has to produce that.”
Board member Jesus Baeza then asked about the auditorium’s water issues.
“Will this be guaranteed to help take care of what we’ve been having to deal with?” Baeza asked.
“The good thing about this project is it will definitely help solve some of those challenges,” Gales said. “There are some aspects of the project that integrate right into the roof area, and this also helps deal with the exposed masonry. This will help add back some of that character, and you can also do some customizing as far as colors and some of those details so it’s not just monochromatic. It will also help with weather resistance because the material we’ll be using is cementitious, meaning it’s very strong, and it’s approved for buildings up to eight stories high. We have used this material with other projects, and we’ve encountered no issues with it. It is somewhat pricier than some other materials, but it’s very strong, and it costs less than actual masonry. It’s very adaptable and easy to use, and similar products are used for security-based design when you want to minimize bullet impacts or blunt force. It can be used internally and externally and is well worth it.”
Baeza then asked about insurance.
“Would this do anything as far as our insurance costs?” Baeza asked. “Would there really be any major difference in coverage or anything like that?”
“I wouldn’t think so,” Mease said. “With the amount of metal we have throughout our inner buildings, I don’t think this is an issue that would really come up.”
Ultimately, the board approved the bid from Osborne Construction in the amount of $2,176,581 for the project.
The board also approved software renewals for GoGuardian including Beacon, and Microsoft Defender EDR for $96,890.
“GoGuardian is a content filter, and it’s also the Chromebook tracker and GPS, and Beacon is the self-harm active planning software, and both of those are extremely important,” Director of Technology Rusty Tuman said. “As you might recall, these had come before the board at this point last year, with us getting a free trial for Beacon. Microsoft Defender EDR is basically a souped-up version of virus protection. We also had this last year, and it works really well.”
Keeping with technological matters, the board also approved an agreement between USD 480 and IdeaTek pending the acceptance of some updates, and the meeting’s first round of new business was concluded with the purchase of 500 staff/teacher laptops and docking stations from ByteSpeed for $431,500.
After coming back from executive session, the board came back for another quick round of new business, during which they approved the Administrator Contracts and ratified the 2024-25 Negotiated Agreement.
