Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Board agrees to campus improvements

Improvements will soon be seen across the campuses at Gurdon School District.

In its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 16, the Gurdon School Board approved the final plans for construction of new classrooms at Gurdon Primary School, the purchase of a new electronic message board for Gurdon High School and Cabe Middle School and the resurfacing of the track at Go-Devil Stadium.

The new construction at Gurdon Primary School is a project which has been in planning for several months now. The addition will allow the district to move classrooms from three portable units which have been used for several years into the new facilities. The projects total cost is $530,636.

Of the total cost, the state will be paying 48 percent, Supt. Bobby Smithson said. The district is funding its portion of the project by selling $185,000 in second lien bonds and using some money from contingency funds.

Smithson told the board that bids for the addition were opened on Oct. 19. The low bidder was Doyle Howard Construction of Delight. Work on the project should begin soon.

When the board first began discussing the addition to Gurdon Primary School, it agreed to use no more than $200,000 from the districts contingency fund, Smithson said. Because the cost of the addition came in below the original projections, the district was only required to spend just over $100,000 of these funds.

Smithson told the board that they had an option when it came to the remainder of the contingency funds which had been budgeted for the primary school project: leave them in reserve or use them for improvement in other areas of the district.

Smithson recommended that the board use the funds to make improvements to the track at Go-Devil Stadium and to the marque at Gurdon High School by adding an electronic message board.

Id like for our facilities to stay as updated as possible, he said.

Of the two projects, Smithson said the track was critical if the district intended to continue holding meets at home.

Were gonna have to fix the track if were gonna keep running on it, he said.

Numerous problems with the track were cited, including its crumbling around the edges. It was also noted that the track had already outlasted its guaranteed life span.

The board agreed to make the upgrades to the track by adding a 3/8 inch latex coating on top of the existing track. The track will also be new stripping will also be added to the track. The repairs will be made at a cost of $55,500.

The board also accepted Smithsons recommendation to replace the current manual message board at Gurdon High School with an electronic wireless message board. A bid from Whatley Sign Company in Texarkana was accepted for a 3'1" x 8' sign at a cost of $23,000.

Smithson said the sign will come with a wireless server which allows the messages to be placed on the sign and will allow up to three lines of text. He said he hopes the new sign will make it easier and quicker to get events advertised on the board.

I want it to have activities from the middle school on there too, he said.

In other business, the board:

- Approved the monthly financial reports and the minutes from the October school board meeting;

- Reviewed a report from the schools resource officer;

- Approved a list of projects for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years which will be submitted to the state for possible funding;

- Approved the purchase of a new school bus; and

- Received an update on the accreditation probation status of Gurdon High School.