WUESD makes its numbers

The WUESD came very close their budgets for renovations on Palm Avenue School and the district MOT building construction project.

At Palm Avenue, Superintendent Kelly Richers explained that funds were originally placed in a contingency account and are meant to cover unanticipated expenses; however, if there are no unanticipated expenses, the district gets that money back and can keep the funds.

That amount was $1,743, he said in a report reviewed by the Board of Trustees Tuesday night.

On the Maintenance, Operations and Transportation building, the district’s only surprise was a $6,809 bill for additional concrete work specified by the city.

The city required the district to modify the original plans the district submitted for the MOT building to change foundation sizes, which increased the volume of concrete used and created a delay of 11 days.

Additionally, due to rainy weather, the contractor was delayed in working for 24 days.

Because of the weather, the project would not be done on time due to conditions beyond the control of the contractor.

The cost of the overall MOT contract was $4.23 million. The original completion date was scheduled for Nov. 28, but the new completion date was Jan. 2, 2020.

In other matters, Richers explained to the board how the school handles temporary employees each year.

“Certificated employees who are not fully credentialed, such as interns, temporary teachers, waivers and teachers on short-term or provisional permits are given nonrenewal letters,” he said.

If the district cannot hire fully credentialed teachers to fill the positions, then those teachers that received nonrenewal letters can be hired back if they meet the needs of the district.

The next board meeting will be Tuesday, March 10, at 6:30 p.m. in the schoo