By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
It might be a way off, but the Hays USD 489 Board of Education is taking no chances on being prepared if its proposed $94 million bond issue passes in June, hearing the benefits of two types of construction management at Monday night’s work session.
The district has two types of construction management available under Kansas law – construction management at-risk and the more traditional design-bid-build.
Chuck Smith, HTK Architects, spoke to the board about the two options, outlining the benefits of both, but also explained to the board that a decision would not need to be made until after the bond election.
Both types of construction management require bidding out of specific projects, but a manager-at-risk could help in initial project costs, through oversight of the entire project that can help correct design and construction concerns before a specific part of the project is already under way.
He also informed the board that a manager-at-risk has the ability to piece out portions of the total contract, whereas a general contractor would assume ownership of the entire project.
In either system, unforeseen construction cost overruns would be addressed by the board.
During the work session, the board also heard recommendations from Scott Summers, director of technology, on the replacement of approximately 150 computers for K-8 teachers.
He informed the board the technology committee has spoken with principals and staff and found a reliable desktop system with adequate performance. The existing systems are nearly six years old.
He said both Lenovo and Dell systems would be options for the replacement.
“Both are very reasonable,” Summers said.
The off-the-shelf price for the systems is $650 to $690 per machine, and a bulk order could lower that pricing.
By next week, Summers said, both machines will be available for demonstrations.
The devices are not set to replace the current tablets used for instruction, Summers told the board, rather they would be used for more administrative purposes that require a machine with more processing power than can be provided by a tablet.