Tight funds delay renovations at W. Reily Brown
CR school board also approves 2008-2009 calendar

By Jeff Brown
News editor
jeff.brown@doverpost.com 

Members of the Caesar Rodney school board last week learned renovation work at one district school could be put off to pay for badly needed repairs at another school.

The reason for the delay is a lack of funds, said Ada Twitchell, district director of business and finance.

The news came at the March 18 board meeting, attended by President David Henderson, Vice President Kathleen Haynes and David Sechler. Board members Charles Whitehurst and Clifton Coleman were unable to attend.

Twitchell said Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s proposed state budget for fiscal year 2009 includes only enough funding to complete renovation and rehabilitation work at the McIlvaine Early Childhood Center, and contains no money for proposed work at the W. Reily Brown Elementary School. Because there is virtually no chance of getting further funding in 2009, the district decided it would ask to use money allocated for Brown, already provided in the fiscal year 2008 state budget, to replace a badly leaking roof at the W.B. Simpson Elementary School, she said.

The district received $2.8 million from the state in 2008 toward renovations at Brown, and has used some of that money for architectural and design work, Twitchell said. That work will continue, although without new funding in fiscal year 2009, there will be no actual construction work.

“We wouldn’t have had enough money to complete any work at Brown or to begin at Simpson or [Allen] Frear elementary,” Twitchell said. “The roof at Simpson is in dire need of repair.”

State legislators must approve the funding switch, and have indicated a willingness to do so, she said.

“We’re hopeful that they will allow us to transfer these existing funds,” Twitchell said.

Twitchell said the job is estimated to cost around $600,000, adding district officials won’t know for sure if they can use the money at Simpson until June 30, when the General Assembly completes work on the fiscal year 2009 budget.

In other news…

Tony Vassalotti of Buck Simpers Architect + Associates, said schematic designs for the McIlvaine project have been submitted and his company is starting work on the more detailed construction plans. Requests for construction bids will be going out as early as mid-April, with the company hoping for a ground breaking in the second week of June.

With the current state of the economy, Vassalotti said he already has been getting a lot of phone calls from prospective contractors.

“This project’s generated a lot of interest,” he said.

“Right now, people are looking for work,” Vassalotti noted, adding, “I think we’ll get some favorable bids.”

Board members also approved the district calendar for the 2008-2009 school year, saying teachers will report for in-service work Monday, Aug. 18, with students beginning classes Wednesday, Aug. 20.

Seniors will finish the school year on May 22, 2009, and take final exams May 26 and 27. Graduation for the Class of 2009 is tentatively set for May 30.

All other students will continue to attend classes through June 8, with the last day for teachers being June 9, 2009.

The 2008-2009 calendar includes 180 student days and 188 teacher days, the same as the 2007-2008 school year.