The BIC board of directors met Monday evening to revue January financial report and continued discussion for potential construction of a new Fine Arts Building on the High School campus.
“Our revenues have been up this year,” Superintendent Gaylon Taylor said. “Our Section 16 land made $101,616.49 this year compared to $73,404.88 last year. It was definitely a good year for farming.”
Natural Gas charges were $22,000 last year and down to $14,639 this year by comparison. Textbooks this year have been $46,000 but ESSER stimulus funding will pay most of cost.
Machinery expenditures this year were listed at $56,615.31 as compared to last year at $1,000. The school rented virtual reality welding simulators for use in Vo-AG Classes, using ESSER funding.
The welding simulators puts the students in a virtual welding setting. Students wear helmets typically used for standard welding, fitted with eyes that see the same image as shown on the computer screen. Simulation teaches students to be better welders, but can also save money and resources, by teaching kids to weld without wasting materials. Welding incorporates academics such as physics, chemistry and math. Tech labs report that the virtual welder has proven to be a great asset for promoting the teaching of welding skills.
BIC Directors originally discussed the $2.5 million estimated cost to build a Fine Arts Center to hold 500 people.
They discussed ways to reduce the cost and still have a center that met all their needs.
“I have talked with builders and looked at other centers,” Taylor said. “We could reduce the size to 387 capacity and have a large savings. We want to be able to have all our students in there at one time. There is a lot of difference in building an auditorium vs a Fine Arts Center, so we may consider that. We need to talk with general contractors too. Having single or second levels have been discussed. We are fortunate to have necessary utility access and parking space on this campus, which is a big consideration. We need to explore all of our options.”
“It might be possible for us to rent out the facility as a meeting place, or partner with the city,” said board member Justin Hawkins.
Other business decisions included:
* going into executive session to discuss hiring and renewal of contracts.
* renewal of four 2022-2023 school Principal contracts for Randy Rose, Mark Hurst, Kima Stewart and Nicole Stewart.
* approval of the cellular tower lease with T-Mobil US Inc.
* accepting the request from Clay and Kima Stewart for amendment of the rental agreement, for the home on W. Virginia Avenue.
The Stewarts requested that they pay $1,250 rental for the rental instead of original agreement amount of $850 and that the school purchase a dishwasher, refrigerator and stove for the house to be left in the home after they move out.