September 27, 2013 at 4:00 PM - Superintendent's Weekly Update to the Board of Education

Description: 
Just a quick update on the facilities planning study.  Roger Worner had requested lots of district data from us.  All of which has been gathered by various department heads and sent off to him.

Gary from Kraus-Anderson had to wait on this data before starting their work.  Gary will be completing site visits on this coming Monday.  

Don said we're on schedule and at where we should be for this phase of the 3-4 month study. 

Description: 
Earlier this week Don Lifto sent out to member school district's a graph of the 20-year and 25-year bonding rates for the past 5 years.  You'll see rates are creeping back up.  

Description: 
Mary and I participated in a Webex demo of software designed to assist in organizing and planning capital improvement projects.  You may remember from a couple weeks ago this was a suggestion of Don Lifto's to help us score better on the District's credit rating.  The software will be very useful for our current facilities planning and years to come.

Below are Mary's thoughts and recommendation.  She would be the primary user of the software.  I'm seeking the Board's permission to go ahead and order this software and begin using it immediately.  I will give Mary and Don the go ahead unless I receive questions/concerns from a board member by Wednesday, October 2.

Jon    

After viewing the Webex demonstration of the Capital Improvement Planning Model developed by Springsted, I would highly recommend that we put this model in place.  It is far more powerful for tracking capital improvement projects than the spreadsheets we have used in the past.  It allows us to track multiple projects, whether single-year or multi-year, and also allows multiple funding sources for each project.  It's much easier to use than what we have been using and creates very simple, concise reports for not only administration but also the board and the public.

There is a one-time cost of $1,500 to purchase and implement the model and there is no annual fee.  The purchase and implementation of this model is one of the factors in making sure we obtain the best bond rating possible in the future.

Mary

Description: 
Our drama finding a house/land to buy should be over next Friday.  We are scheduled to close on the house October 4.  

We almost lost this one too.  After three stressful days of waiting, the sellers decided to come down to the appraisal price.  I greatly look forward to having organization back in my life!

Description: 
Please find attached the weekly bills for your approval.