Following a budget workshop Tuesday evening, Elizabethton Board of Education members voted unanimously to request additional funding from the City of Elizabethton to support maintenance and technology upgrades as well safety, transportation and remodeling needs.
“The folks on the City Council and in the City Manager’s Office have been excellent partners, and we appreciate their continued support and willingness to better our community by considering the needs of our education system,” said Director of Schools Dr. Corey Gardenhour.
The one-time expenses would secure schools with new visitor management software, accommodate approximately 50 more students at T.A. Dugger Junior High by remodeling existing facilities, and facilitate transportation for 66 students on a new bus.
The allocations to the Elizabethton City Schools (ECS) from the City of Elizabethton remain otherwise unchanged since the 2001-02 school year at a budget request of $2,332,000.
The funding increases requested by ECS for the proposed upgrades total $380,000, which breaks down to $250,000 added to operating costs for maintenance and technology upgrades and one-time expenditures of $10,000 for the Raptor visitor management software, $90,000 for a 66-passenger school bus and $30,000 to remodel T.A. Dugger classrooms.
The Raptor software is already in use in a number of surrounding school systems, including Carter County. The system scans each visitor’s state identification and determines whether the person is on a sex offender registry, and provides proper identification tags for all school visitors.
The request for funding for the bus comes in response to numerous costly repairs of the last two old buses in the 15-bus fleet, said John Hutchins, ECS director of federal programs.
At the ECS meeting Tuesday, board members also approved the purchase of a 42-passenger bus at a cost of $99,225.
“This is a replacement for one of two ailing buses,” said Gardenhour. “It’s a special needs bus with air conditioning, and it will free up a 66-passenger bus to go back on regular routes… So we’ll be able to transport more students.”
Hutchins said the life expectancy of these buses averages about 15 years, and that the replacement of these two will mean ECS will not need to replace any buses for a few years.
Additionally, some state funding may be allocated for personnel funding increases through the state-mandated Basic Education Program, but Beth Wilson, ECS director of business and fiscal management, said it is unclear what that amount may be.
One facilities improvement now on the ECS map is the remodeling of the track at Elizabethton High School.
“We haven’t had a home meet there in years,” said Gardenhour. “The pavement was recapped about 15 years ago, but big cracks have formed since then.”
With a $200,000 donation from Citizens Bank Tri-Cities Foundation Ltd. and capital improvement funding for the 2016-17 school year, the track will be resurfaced. Assistant Director of Schools Richard VanHuss said he anticipates the project will begin with filling and repaving in April, followed by the rubberizing over the asphalt tentatively beginning in June. The total cost is estimated at $434,459.11.
“We’re very fortunate to have the Citizen’s Bank Tri-Cities Foundation as a part of our community because they do so much good, and they’ve recently supported a lot of projects here in the school system,” said Gardenhour. “The four brothers that make up the foundation are all very successful men, they’re all tied to Elizabethton, and they’ve found it in their hearts to give back to the school system and to our children, so we are ever-indebted to them.”
The track is to be named “Betsy Cyclones Track Donated by LaPortes.”
Chair Rita Booher said the improvement of the track has been long-needed and is as essential to the athletic program as was moving the football stadium to the high school.
Board member Grover May commented on how important track was for his own personal development and said the most athletic scholarships awarded to EHS students are for track runners.
In other news, the board ratified the purchase of Chromebook labs for the schools at a cost of $62,892.96. Joey Trent, director of personnel and technology services said there are three in each school except West Side Elementary, which has two. Each lab contains 24 Chromebooks, which are small laptops that children can use for testing as well as for everyday use. Each Chromebook costs about $230, which East Side Principal Travis Hurley said is an excellent deal that will have numerous benefits for students. Gardenhour assured that students would be using them daily.