Great timing means the Sweetwater City School System will get to build the larger of the two final proposed additions to replace the 83-year-old Ivins Building at Sweetwater Elementary School.
Director of Schools Dr. Keith Hickey figured the school system had about $2,974,000 to spend on the project without borrowing money.

Sweetwater Board of Education members Chairman Richard Rowe, Dr. John Fox, Letha Oggs, Bennie Moser and Janie Dacus had previously told architect Sam Moser prepare a bid package that called for a four-classroom, 510-seat auditorium along with an alternate bid request for a six-classroom, 510-seat auditorium for the school on Broad Street.

If the bids came in low enough, the School Board could vote to build the larger addition without having to decide whether to borrow money to build the bigger addition.
Moser had said the construction industry was hungry for work and that proved to be the case with eight companies bidding for the Sweetwater Elementary project.
"We were tickled with the bids," Hickey said.

The decision for board members Monday came down to a choice between Mid-State Construction based in Livingston and Cookeville and Construction Consultants of Chattanooga.
The Chattanooga builder had the lowest bid for the four-classroom addition at $2,727,000, but when its alternate bid was added in the total was $2,983,000.

Mid-State's bid for the four-classroom project was $2,738,000, however when the two additional classrooms were added, the Middle Tennessee builder had the overall lowest price at $2,960,000 and was the only bid lower than what the school system had without borrowing.
Moser and the city school system had checked references for the bidders.
A pre-construction meeting with the contractor will be held soon to plan the timetable for the demolition of the current auditorium building and the start on the new one.
The bid winner said the project should take 300 days, however the school system hopes good weather during the next year will speed up that process.

During Monday night's board meeting, new Sweetwater Junior High Principal Rodney Boruff gave a state-of-the-school report. Boruff outlined a number of initiatives at the school under way to improve the learning environment and test scores.
"We have a lot of good things going on," he said.

The new principal said he and his staff would not shy away from any challenges.
One new program at the school has teachers spending extra time with at-risk students.
Boruff said each of the teachers have been assigned four students to keep in constant contact with.
"The teachers have really bought into it," Boruff said.
He said it is very important for students to have an adult in their life who cares about how they are doing.

Boruff said the school has access to a wide array of new technology, including 15 new computers and six new Promethean Boards.
According to Boruff, there have been relatively few discipline problems among the school's 288 students.
One of the biggest challenges, he said, is to get more parental involvement at the school, as seventh and eighth-graders aren't too keen on the idea of their parents being at their school.

"I want to figure out how to make it cool for parents to come to school," Boruff said.
In other business, Hickey gave a presentation of the school system's state Report Card performance.
The state Department of Education had said a new grading system would mean a one to two letter grade drop for school systems across the state. That predicted drop showed up on the city school system's report card.

Hickey said students' performances had basically been the same even though the scores dropped due to changes in the grading system. The veteran director of schools said the current staff of teachers and administrators had turned in four very good reports before the latest drop off.
"Everything is not broken," he said.

Much of the state Report Card data is based on three-year averages of test scores and Hickey said in some cases, some poor years will drop of the city system's Report Card average in 2010. However, he acknowledged there are some subject areas the school system needs to work on.
Hickey told board members by getting an adjustable rate on the bond for the Sweetwater Primary School completed in 2003, the school system had saved $1.4 million in interest compared to a fixed-rate bond, according to the Tennessee Municipal League.

The School Board does not plan to meet during December due to the Christmas holiday.

tommy.millsaps@advocateanddemocrat.com | 337-7101