VCSC may eliminate snow days
Mar. 22—Vigo County School Corp. advances in technology, with the introduction of Chromebooks, brings good news and perhaps not-so-good news for students under proposed calendar changes for the 2021-22 school year.
The good news is, the school district is recommending a change that means students' first day of school is Aug. 16, rather than Aug. 10.
The bad news, depending on your perspective, is no more snow days. Chromebooks mean that school can go on during inclement weather through use of e-learning.
Snow days scheduled for March 4, March 25 and May 20 will no longer be needed, according to the calendar revisions. The last day of school would be May 27 under the changes.
The Vigo County School Board will consider the changes during tonight's 6 p.m. meeting at the West Vigo Elementary Conference Center.
In other business, the board has a busy agenda, including hearings related to the Otter Creek Middle School addition/renovation project and a separate general obligation bond issue.
The district plans to use a building corporation and lease/rental process to finance the $10 million Otter Creek project. The board will conduct a hearing on the lease. Then, it will act on several resolutions, including execution of a lease; formation of a building corporation and assigning construction bids to the building corporation.
"Going through a building corporation is a widely-used practice for school projects across the state," Bill Riley, VCSC director of communications, stated previously.
"We go through a building corporation/lease arrangement so that the building corporation can take on the appropriate amount of debt for the project and so that debt does not limit the Vigo County School Corp. from taking on debt through general obligation bonds for future projects."
The project includes a new gym, a new music room, a renovated cafeteria and more classroom space.
Once construction begins, it will not be complete until August 2022, and work will continue through the 2021-22 school year.
In a separate agenda item, the board will conduct a hearing on 2021 general obligation bond issue not to exceed $5,575,000 at an interest rate not to exceed 5%. Funds would be used for such projects as roofing, paving, chillers, facility maintenance and purchase of equipment and technology.
The board will then act on additional appropriation and final bond resolutions.
Short term general obligation bonds help fill a gap in revenue created by circuit breaker losses, officials say.
In other business, the board will:
—Consider a request to use Eventlink management and e-contract software platform to schedule athletic contests, game officials and event workers.
—Consider awarding 2021 contracts for the following: mechanical improvements, HVAC, to Freitag-Weinhardt, Inc.; paving projects, Dennis Trucking and Excavating; roofing projects, Associated Roofing Professionals.
The board will also be asked to consider the purchase of school buses, with a contract awarded to Midwest Transit Equipment. The contract would be for ten 78-passenger buses for a total cost of $1,075,330 and two 54-passenger buses at a total cost of $242,534.
Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at sue.loughlin@tribstar.com Follow Sue on Twitter @TribStarSue.
