The Echo

As promised, I'm blogging my take on the last night's CSD Board Meeting at Bancroft Elementary School:

For the most part, it was a smooth ride. The Board heard an update on the Porter Road School and the new Delaware School for the Deaf campus. Both project received survived Dover's budget crunch, were fully funded at the close the recent legislative session and immediately loaded (meaning the money promised was made available for work to continue/commence.)

Porter is now a finished product, a stunning new school ready to serve its students. Porter's open house is scheduled for August 26, from 4- 7 pm.

After a brief hiatus, The Delaware School for Deaf (DSD) is now ready to proceed into the next phase of construction. During the meeting several contracts were approved by the board to move this project along. Ground breaking is expected in early October, the onset of a 16 month construction schedule that will be completed in December 2010.

We did have an unusual bump in the flow last night concerning contracts for Produce/Seasonal items and Cafeteria Paper Products when these items were tabled after an unhappy vendor addressed the board during public comment. The board reconvened in Executive Session to discuss the concern. Though I am a new Board Member, I am confident with the information provided to the board that these contracts were awarded within the scope of the Request for Proposal(RFP)(the process by which we solicit venders to bid on contracts) fairly and appropriately. The Board reconvened in public session and voted to accept the district's recommendation. Thanks go to our patient superintendent who gracefully yielded to what some may term micro-managing vs policy making, the latter being the purpose of school boards.

Questions? Comments? Hit me at the bottom of this post!