Board approves plan to upgrade technology

By DEB WUETHRICH

On Monday night, the Tecumseh School Board members approved a resolution authorizing the issuance of installment purchase agreements (IPA) in the amount of $363,445 for technology purchases and upgrades. National City Commercial Credit, the same financial institution handling the athletic complex IPAs, will finance the purchases at a rate of 4.13 percent. The time frame for paying back the loans will be four years and 10.4 months.

Tecumseh Schools Business and Finance Director Bill Wright said the IPAs have been discussed since last year and would allow Technology Director Todd Thieken to proceed with plans to upgrade technology in line with the district’s strategic plan and in a way that then gets it into a regular replacement cycle. He said it is “not a great bidding climate” for pursuing such loans, but said that he is pleased with the bid from National City and the rate they are able to offer.

Thieken said the original request was to be $300,000, but some circumstances made it advantageous to move ahead and make some replacements now rather than do a phase-in, including the fact that monies have been set aside through capital improvements toward the projects and a projected energy savings the district has learned it can have through replacements and upgrades. He said 18 servers in the central office would drop down to three.

“We had the electric company evaluate how many kilowatt hours we use per day and how much that costs, and over a three year period, they project that we could recover $229,000,” said Thieken. He said that other work would include new projectors and replacement computers, and that 182 teacher computers would be replaced. Labs at Herrick Park and Tecumseh Acres also will be replaced, for a total of 242 computers.
“Then we can focus on our long-range planning and from that point forward, whenever we replace a system we’ll be looking at $320 each,” Thieken said. He said any savings realized from energy reductions would be placed into accounts to help pay off the loans or for future technology purchases. “The next couple of years, we’re going to be looking at everything we can do to hold these costs down,” he said.

Another action item the board voted on was to proceed with a settlement with J.A. Candler Company, a firm that installed roofing earlier this year. Superintendent Mike McAran said the company did not fully satisfy the specifications set out and there were some problems with the roof at Tecumseh Middle School.

“We told them we did not care for the way they did it and it wasn’t to specs,” said McAran. He said the problem was more aesthetic than functional. The district first withheld $25,000 from the firm, but legal counsel has advised that the matter be settled with the withholding of $7,000.

In other business the board members:
• Heard a report that work at the pool was nearly completed including cleaning grout from tile, installing new lights and painting.
• Heard a report from Todd Thieken that the district had held its first series of credit recovery programs using Nova Net. Students who fail a course will be able to take the self-directed sessions during Seminar or after school in the coming school year. Thieken said a recommendation has been made that someone who is proficient in math be available at these sessions since students may need additional assistance to complete the math/science components.
• The board also made committee assignments with the major ones being as follows: Executive committee, Debbie Johnson-Berges and Karen Januszek; Facilities and Grounds committee, Dan Gunder, Chair, Lou Englund and Karen Januszek; Finance committee, Kevin Packard, Chair, Jim Rice, and Jason Sines; Policy Committee, Debbie Johnson-Berges, Chair, and Karen Januszek.
• Scheduled an annual retreat for Tuesday, Sept. 15, from 6-9 p.m. with location to be determined.