Extra Credit

Fort Worth ISD, AECOM win award for bond management program

The Fort Worth school district and a bond management firm have been given an award recognizing development excellence in North Texas.

The Celebrating Leadership in Development Excellence Awards program, according to a district news release, encourages "innovating development projects and practices that will help accommodate expected growth and ensure a sustainable North Texas for generations to come." 

The award is to the school district and AECOM, which manages the school district's 2007 Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

In the bond referendum, voters gave the go-ahead for a $593.6 million bond package that included $551.9 million to construct campuses and additions and perform renovations to existing schools and athletic facilities.

Fort Worth schools Superintendent Walter Dansby (r) said in a statement: "In the years since voters approved the 2007 bond referendum we've built new schools, renovated facilities and technologically transformed classrooms all across the district. And with our AECOM partner we have been able to do it all on time, under budget and within strict guidelines for safety, sustainability and accountability."

Jessamy Brown

New building eyed for Fort Worth ISDs Young Women's Leadership Academy

The girls at the Young Women's Leadership Academy may be moving to new digs on Eighth Street in Fort Worth.

The Fort Worth school board in January agreed to purchase the Tarrant County Education Center building at 401 E. 8th St.

On Tuesday, trustees are to consider using $5.8 million from funds left over from the Capital Improvement Program to pay for renovations to the building.

The deal still must still be considered by the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court, which is expected to take up the matter at a meeting scheduled for Feb. 26, a school district spokeswoman said. If both parties approve, officials hope to be done with renovations and ready to move into the new building in time for the fall 2013 semester.

The academy has outgrown its current space, Fort Worth schools spokesman Clint Bond said.

The school opened in August 2010 in a converted building on West Magnolia Avenue that served as the school district's adult education center. Officials are adding one grade per year. This year, there are students in grades seven through 10.

Jessamy Brown

 

 

Solar powered Southlake Carroll Middle School wins design award

Carroll Middle School, a solar powered campus in Southlake that opened in August, has won a design award from the United Masonry Contractors Association, Carroll schools officials announced.

The campus won the First Place Golden Trowel Award for Exterior Design and Block work.

The 159,133-square-foot campus, at 1800 E. Kirkwood Boulevard in Southlake, was designed by the Natex Corporation Architects. The mason contractor was J & E Masonry and the general contractor was Bartett Cocke.

Carroll Middle School features thousands of solar tubes on the roof, which can generate up to 450 kilowatts of electricity. The $40 million campus was part of a $139 million bond package approved by voters in May 2009. The campus replaced another building at 1101 E. Dove Road in Southlake, that will be renovated for an administrative headquarters and other purposes.

Jessamy Brown

No-go yet on bond guarantees for Texas charter schools

Charter schools are supposed to be able to tap the Permanent School Fund's bond guarantee program, which saves schools money by helping them get high ratings for bond packages. The Legislature last year included charter schools in the program, and they were to be eligible starting Sept. 28. But that's not happening - and it may never happen. In October, the state asked the IRS if including them in the program would violate what's called arbitrage laws and cause the program to lose its tax-exempt status. It won't extend guarantees to charter schools until the IRS clears the idea, the State Auditor's Office says in a new report. Besides, state law says that the state education commission may not approve charter district bonds for guarantees if it would result in a lower bond rating for the program. So now the program is waiting to get updated rating letters from various bond rating agencies to see what would happen if charter schools were covered. - Lois Norder

 

Two new Southlake Carroll campuses ready to open next week

Teachers are moving into two new campuses opening next week in the Carroll school district, superintendent David Faltys told trustees on Monday.

Walnut Grove Elementary and a replacement campus for Carroll Middle School both have many "green" elements.

A water well went online at Walnut Grove Elementary last week. The landscaping at the campus is now being irrigated solely by well water instead of water from the City of Southlake, Faltys said.

School district officials plan to open wells on other campuses in the future to save on utility costs.

The middle school is largely solar powered.

Jessamy Brown

 

Birdville bond committee to resume work in fall

Birdville's facility Bond Study Committee is taking the summer off and will resume work in the fall, officials said.

Administrators in the Haltom City-based school district on May 3 asked the committee for more time to gather information to present to the committee before the group makes a recommendation on a possible bond package, according to a Monday news release.

The bond study committee is evaluating data about the district's facilities and technology needs.

"The district believes the committee needs more time to study all materials and facilities in order to propose an appropriate plan to BISD’s board of trustees and voters," the school district's news release said.

The group will continue evaluating the school district's "critical needs" and make a recommendation on a plan proposal to the school board. Birdville trustees meanwhile, are continuing work on forming a budget for fiscal 2010.  The district has a small surplus but trustees have not discussed employee pay yet and will need to factor in updated property value estimates.

Committee agendas and schedules are posted online.

Jessamy Brown

Arlington trustees set to approve more bond sales

Arlington school trustees meet Thursday night and on their agenda is an item to approve issuing up to $30,795,000 in bonds for a variety of district projects. It will be the second bond sale since voters approved a $197.5 million package in November.

Two-million dollars of the $30,795,000 is earmarked for the purchase of land for a new elementary school in east Arlington, according to the district. Other planned expenditures include $14.4 million in technology updates, $2.4 million for buses and $1.3 million for fine arts. To see a list of the of all the projects that the latest sale will fund, go here. It's on page 14 and 15 of the meeting agenda.

- Traci Shurley

Arlington superintendent asks for help for staff

As Arlington school trustees prepared to appoint a citizens committee to oversee its bond projects for the next five years Thursday night, Superintendent Jerry McCullough issued a plea for some help.

He listed a succession of citizens committees that administrative staff members have worked with over the past year. That included a Citizens Advisory Committee that's been meeting since October, considering district finances. They've requested hundreds of pages of documents from the district and heard several presentations from administrators.

"If my staff looks tired, they are tired," McCullough said. "They're worn out and I can't help them because there's not anybody else to give them."

McCullough specifically asked the board to delete a portion of the instructions for the bond oversight committee that would instruct the committee to create subcommittees as needed. He worried that those subcommittees would push the number of meetings beyond the five per year that trustees originally planned for the oversight committee and increase burden on his staff.

Board President Mike O'Donnell suggested that McCullough bring trustees a proposal for more staff and they would consider it. Later, McCullough said he would need upper level staff, not clerks. But, he likely wouldn't be asking for another assistant superintendent because the district's financial situation just wouldn't allow it, he said.

But, he said,  "I beg the board to listen to our concerns about the workload."

The board decided to start taking applications for the bond oversight committee, but they delayed deciding on instructions for the group until March.

-Traci Shurley

LULAC Council says Arlington should name new elementary after Chavez

Arlington school trustees just got voter okay for a $197.5 million bond issue, but one community organization is already making suggestions about what to name a new elementary school included in the package.

Trustees should consider honoring civil rights activist and labor leader Cesar Chavez when it names the school to be built in east central Arlington, Luis Castillo, president of Arlington Council 4353 of the League of the United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), said in a press release Thursday night.

"To honor Cesar Chavez in a predominantly Hispanic student population part of the school district is the right thing to do," said Castillo, a former school board candidate. "Even though construction of the new elementary school may be one or two years away, we jubilantly look forward to the grand opening of the Cesar Chavez Elementary School."

After Thursday night's school board meeting, Board President Mike O'Donnell said he expects Castillo won't be the only one making suggestions when the time comes to name the new school.

"There will be lots of community groups that will have different ideas about what we should do and I certainly welcome him being at the forefront," O'Donnell said.

- Traci Shurley

Arlington, Texas Railroad Commissioner both backing propane fuel

Railroad Commissioner  Michael L. Williams and other alternative-fuel vehicle supporters stopped in Fort Worth today to talk to local municipal and school officials about turning to propane vehicles, especially school buses.

Arlington schools, which received the green-light from voters Tuesday on a $197.5 million bond package, has already signed on. The district plans to use bond funds to purchase 120 new propane buses over the next five years to update their aging fleet.

The district says it will get more than $1 million in reimbursements through government grants and manufacturer rebates to buy the cleaner-burning vehicles. One of those grant programs is a U.S. Department of Energy grant recently awarded to the Railroad Commission and 40 partner fleets in Texas.

Arlington also plans to take advantage of federal fuel rebates of 50 cents per gallon.

Williams' visit to Fort Worth was part of his seven-city "Breathe Easy" Tour. (In the picture from the Railroad Commission: Wayne Corum with The City of Fort Worth, Roy Willis, with The Propane Education Research Council,  Williams, and Jack Roush at the Propane Vehicle Tour today in downtown Fort Worth.)

“The cost savings fleets will observe with propane vehicles make them a common-sense choice.  For school districts and other public fleets, those savings taxpayers, as well as their residents to breathe a little easier,” Williams said in a statement.  “Propane is less expensive than diesel, and additional federal and local incentives for the purchase of propane fuel and propane-powered vehicles help make the financial benefits even stronger.”

- Traci Shurley