San Benito school improvement proposals OK'd

SAN BENITO - Proposals for a number of school district projects, including the re-roofing of a building that was damaged by Hurricane Dolly, have been approved.

The San Benito schools Board of Trustees approved the district's facilities building roof repairs Tuesday evening.

The repairs will cost $873,000 and will be done by Waterproofing Technologies, Inc.

Elsewhere in the district, trustees voted to begin bond projects at different schools for retrofitting the air-conditioning systems.

Work on Sullivan Elementary School will begin around January and the high school retrofitting will be done in the summer, Superintendent Antonio Limón said.

District documents show that the district anticipates completing the high school project before the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.

The cost for retrofitting at the high school is $3.75 million, and includes engineering design and related costs. The budget for this project, under a 2008 bond series, is about $4.19 million.

The school board also voted to continue with the design process for retrofitting at Dr. Cash, Rangerville and Ed Downs elementary schools.

For the UTEX building's roof, the school district voted to repair the entire roof instead of just a portion of it.

"We would get no warranty the other way," Limón explained.

Redoing the entire roof for the facilities complex allows the district to obtain a five-year warranty, he added.

Funding for the roofing project will come from the windstorm insurance policy and Federal Emergency Management Agency money, which will cover 75 percent between the insurance company and the actual cost, according to district documents.

The remaining 25 percent will come from the budget.