Superintendent Dr. Thomas Bruce reported on the first two weeks of school at the recent Board of Education meeting as classes began Aug. 31, and CARMI Design representatives reported on projects that were done over the summer.
“We’ve had a great start,” Bruce said. “Everything has gone really, really well. (Assistant Superintendent) Steve (Spenner) and I and other administrators have spent time in all the schools and the staff and the students all seem excited to get started.”
Bruce also commented on the district’s staffing. “We had an outstanding hiring season,” he said. “The board has asked to set down a very clear process and we developed a Shamrock professional profile. We now have outstanding people on board.”
CARMI Design representatives Randy Boersen and Tony Leininger reported on the projects completed both on campus and off campus this summer. In all, $4.23 million worth of projects were done on campus this summer including work at the High School, Middle School, Sylvester Elementary, Central Office and Rock Community Park.
The biggest project in terms of costs was the work done at the Rock Community Park where the concession and restroom building cost $934,827.97 and the parking lot work another $696,193, followed by the Sylvester roof project which cost $1.2 million.
Boersen reported that the second phase of the door and frame project at the high school was completed, bringing both improved security and aesthetics. Bruce noted that the doors and frames were identified as needing to be replaced a few years ago with teachers saying they didn’t feel safe with the old doors which contained more glass.
At the middle school, the third phase of the ceiling and lighting project was completed. Boersen said the office area was done in the first phase and the middle part of the building last year. This year’s phase included the library and other classrooms.
Roof and room refresh projects were done at Sylvester. It was the second phase of room refreshes including new furniture in the library as well as the special education rooms. The next phase will be done in the summer of 2027 with 11 classrooms done. The final set of classroom refreshes will be done in the summer of 2028.
Bruce said the Sylvester room refreshes have been popular with staff. “Last year I went to see how the teachers felt and you always hear something but I didn’t hear anything,” he said. “That was the case again this year, everyone was really happy with how things turned out.”
With Rock Community Park, Boersen said the third phase of the project was done this summer with the concession and restroom building completed and the parking lot work done. “We’ll be excited to seeing the building and the fields used next year in the spring of 2027,” he said.
The central office also saw work done this summer. Boersen said that the former Project Lead the Way area was renovated to now include a new break room and two new offices for the technology department. The renovations give the technology department the space needed to refresh the thousands of Chrome books used both on and off campus.
In action items, board members approved the Career Technical Education Michigan Merit Curriculum for the coming year as well as the course catalog for the district. They extended the employee leave for Rita Perez until Jan. 1 and amended the board meeting schedule to change the June meeting from June 3 to June 10, 2027.
Next board
meeting
is October 8th
The school board’s next meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. in the Central Office Board Room.
