Comparing the renovation project

at McIntosh High School to Boston's Big Dig, Fayette County School Board

member Janet Smola Monday night expressed reservations about whether 26-hundredths

of a percent difference in a bid for providing architectural design services

was enough to justify awarding the contract to the low bidder.

DWB, architect for Kedron,

Sara Harp Minter, Cleveland and Crabapple elementary schools, bid 5.74

percent for architectural services for five major construction and renovation

projects at McIntosh as well as kitchen renovations at East Fayette Elementary

and Fayette Intermediate schools. Smola argued for awarding the contract

to Manley Spangler Smith Architects, which submitted a bid of 6 percent

for the same projects. Manley Spangler is architect for Whitewater High

School. The firm also designed Sandy Creek High School.

Describing the McIntosh High

School project as "incredible intrusive," Smola told the board,

"We're going to have to live with this. Despite the difference in

the price, I would like for us to go with the architect with the most

experience."

Enrollment at McIntosh, presently

at 1,510, is expected to reach 1,800 within the next few years. There

is adequate classroom space to accommodate the growth, according to the

school system's information office, but the school's core facility is

already crowded. The new project calls for construction of a new physical

education facility, renovating the kitchen, expanding the cafeteria, relocating

the band and chorus rooms, and reworking the existing physical education

facility into an auditorium.

Board Member Marion Key shared

Smola's concerns, stating that the architect's fee is just one thing to

consider when making this decision.

"Just because the architect's

fee is the lowest does not mean the final fees will be lower," Key

told the board. She said when she had visited high schools built by both

architects, "I just plain like Manley Spangler's high schools better."

Key also added that phone calls

to staff members indicate many also prefer Manley Spangler.

Key suggested that in the future

the school system refrain from putting people on committees who have a

direct interest in business concerns. She could not be reached Tuesday

to elaborate on this comment.

The school system's internal

construction committee recommended to the board that the projects be awarded

to DWB. Smola and Key were outvoted 3-2 in favor of the committee's recommendation.

Crabapple Lane boundaries

An update on proposed school

boundaries for Crabapple Lane Elementary School was presented to the board

in that area was used to create the proposal, with Lake Kedron and Peachtree

Parkway serving as dividing lines, he said. School officials are meeting

with neighborhood associations for input and Bennett suggested that the

map be presented and open for comment at the board's next work session.

Crabapple is expected to open

fall 2003 with an estimated enrollment of 429 students, though its students

may initially attend a "school within a school" at Kedron Elementary,

Bennett said.

"The deadline of August

is possible, and we will certainly shoot for it," Bennett said, "but

the idea is to get it built with quality."

Worst case scenario, Bennett

said, students will move into the new facility at the semester point during

the 2003-2004 school year.

In other construction related

discussions, the board unanimously awarded a contract to the low bidder

for large equipment at Whitewater High School, where grading has begun.

In other business:

· The board approved a

revised extracurricular activities policy which makes no-pass-no-play

restrictions applicable equally to all sports.

· The board approved a

revised promotion-retention policy.

· Dr. Sharon Boyer presented

a revised health curriculum for grades K-9 for to the board for study.

Seventh, eighth and ninth graders will receive abstinence-based instruction

through a program entitled, "Choosing the Best," under the new

plan. A copy of this curriculum will be in placed in the board room Wednesday,

Aug. 21, for review by the public.

· A curriculum for K-5

gifted programs was also presented to the board for study as well as a

revised policy on student hearing tribunals.

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