Contracts OK'd for books, repairs at county schools
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on March 8, 2012 1:46 PM
The Wayne County Board of Education approved $588,500 worth of contracts Monday night, including textbook purchases as well as software and upgrades at several schools.
The 13 contracts will be funded from several sources, Nan Barwick, the assistant superintendent for finance, explained to the board.
State funds were used for two orders of math textbooks, which will be distributed to fourth- and fifth-graders across the county.
The $128,826 contract was for 1,675 books for the fifth-grade bundle, while $130,729 was designated for an order of 1,700 books for fourth-graders.
"Hopefully the citizens will appreciate that," board member Arnold Flowers said. "(You're) talking about buying books that cost $67.90 apiece and the parents and citizens need to know that."
A $13,800 contract was awarded to TEAM Roofing of Clayton, to restore the art building roof at Norwayne Middle School with urethane adhesive.
Capital outlay funds will be used for that project as well as an insulated gym wall panel, which will be installed by Southern Metal Systems Inc. of Wendell. Its bid was for $39,500.
Able Exterior Remodeling and Roofing of Midland had its $20,700 bid approved for a project at Mount Olive Middle School. The gymnasium lobby roof will be restored with coal tar and a common area with urethane adhesive. Those funds, too, will be derived from the district's capital outlay money.
A third roofing project, targeting the A, B and C wing connections at Northwest Elementary School, will be handled by Greenville Contractors Inc., whose bid was $8,252.
"The work was done a couple years ago," explained Mrs. Barwick. "But the work was not done on the connector at that time."
Wayne Roofing of Goldsboro will restore a wall at Charles B. Aycock High School. The $8,564 project will be funded by capital outlay money.
Three contracts were awarded to Premiere Carpets of Goldsboro, for projects at three different schools -- $5,872 to replace carpet in multipurpose room at Spring Creek Elementary; $11,500 to replace carpet in the office area, guidance office and media center at Rosewood Middle; and $10,690 for carpeting in the media center at Norwayne Middle.
Tarheel Flooring Inc. of Goldsboro had its bid for $10,154 accepted to replace carpet in the media center at Eastern Wayne Middle.
Media funds will be used for a software and service package from Follett Software Co. for $59,789. The learning training modules will be used in media centers throughout the district, as well as central office.
Federal Race to the Top funding will be used to purchase $140,109 worth of Android tablets.
Flowers, who chairs the board's finance committee, said he has long felt it was important to itemize spending and let the public know about such purchases.
"I have asked for some time for us to list this on the agenda and just speak to it like we could to any board member," he said. "I know our former chairwoman Mrs. (Thelma) Smith, her desire for us to be transparent, and our current chairman, Mr. (Eddie) Radford wants to be transparent like I do."