BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — Bradford School Board members heard the first of the monthly updates that will be taking place as school construction continues.
Todd Duffy of Ausley Construction showed the board aerial views of retention pond work, as well as outlines of where foundations would be poured for Buildings 2 and 3 as well as the administrative building and cafeteria. He said they were also moving on to constructing the footers for Building 5.
Pipe installation for plumbing would also begin the next day, he said.
Future presentations will take the board through classrooms and other areas as they are built.
“We’re progressing well and on schedule. Just keep hoping that the rain holds off. We’re pushing as fast as we can before the rains hit us,” Duffy said.
Later, the board approved a $31,300 change order for the removal and replacement of unsuitable soil during excavation for the sewer system, to be paid for with project contingency funds.
Prior change orders had raised the contingency funding, which now sits at nearly $590,000.
Board briefed on redistricting
Matt Barksdale, deputy elections office supervisor, briefed the school board on the redistricting process. That included introducing them to the same website that county commissioners have been using to formulate maps — www.davesredistricting.org.
County commissioners and school board members share the same labeled Districts 1-5. When the time comes, both boards will need to agree on the final map.
While the process won’t be completed prior to this year’s election, work continues to formulate a map that both balances the voting-age populations between the districts as much as possible while maintaining District 1 as a majority-minority district in order help guarantee diverse representation.
Once both boards have spent some time working on the maps, they will hold a joint workshop to discuss their progress.
