School board approves name for new CTE facility

At the new Career & Technical Education high school sewer, electrical, and plumbing are all ongoing and foundation placement is in progress.

The new middle school is advancing quickly in anticipation of its opening in August. Some interior finishes are already in place, and the grounds, fields, and parking lots are taking shape.

At Permian High School, HVAC ductwork in the auditorium has been enclosed, the stage extension is in progress as is exterior concrete work, and the famous MOJO letter will soon be placed back on the outside of the building.

The PHS JROTC facility is almost at the half-way point. Insulation and underground utilities work are ongoing, overhead doors have been installed, and completion looks to be in May.

The Transition Learning Center has concrete placement for grade beams and underground electrical and plumbing is started.

At the Ag Farm, the concrete slab is being poured for the building that contains the arena and both barns. The project has a finish date of late summer.

A geotechnical survey is being done at the site of the new Transportation Facility, as they map private and domestic utility lines ahead of the scheduled renovations and construction.

Under the Priority 1 & Priority 2 work, revised drawings for the five schools in Package 2 are being reviewed by architects. The schools in this grouping are Noel, San Jacinto, Cameron elementary schools and Crockett and Ector Middle Schools. Additionally, Travis Elementary – which will become ECISD’s new Welcome Center for parents – has gotten a validated Certificate of Occupancy.

About one-third of bond proceeds are available (that is slightly less than $141 million); the rest of the funds have been spent or are designated for specific projects through purchase orders.

Following the updated:

Trustees received the annual report from the Bond Oversight Committee. The oversight committee is made up of ten (10) community members who meet regularly to ensure bond projects remain faithful to priorities identified in the 2023 Bond Plan, review information about and expenditure of bond funds are accurate and transparent. They are expected to serve in this role through the implementation of Bond 2023 projects. At this time, the committee members report being pleased with the detailed level of communication, openness, and responsiveness of ECISD’s administrative team and the progress of the bond work.

Trustees voted 5-0 to approve the naming of the new Career & Technical Education high school set to open in 2027. The local, board-appointed committee met four times beginning last December to establish a plan to solicit and receive suggestions from the public, to review potential names, mascots, and colors for the new facility. The committee’s recommendation is to name the new facility Advancing Trades, Learning, and Skills Career & Technical Education Center – the ATLAS CTE Center for short. The committee felt it would be best to let the students at the new school select a mascot, and recommended ECISD’s district colors as the facility will be home to and represent students from across the school district.  

Trustees voted 5-0 to approve Bond 2023 purchases over $100,000. This month’s list of items is lengthy. Use this link to see the list for this item, 10-D.

Trustees voted 5-0 to approve Teinert Construction as the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) for the new Transportation Facility.

Trustees voted 4-0-1 (Delma Abalos abstained) to approve cancellation of a Request for Qualifications for roofing projects Construction Manager at Risk. Cancelling the RFQ will allow the District to rebid the process as a CMAR Request for Proposals and will allow the roof projects to be bundled for maximum market efficiency.

Trustees voted 5-0 to delegate authority to the superintendent to negotiate and execute an individual job order for Bond 2023 Priority 1 and Priority 2 construction with the listed general contractor at the specified cost. The specific job order is for Priority 1 and Priority 2 work at Hays Elementary.

Trustees voted 5-0 to approve a revised estimate cost for individual job orders under the approved job order contracts for Bond 2023 Priority 1 & 2 (P1 & P2) construction. Projected costs for eleven of these P1 and P2 campus projects are exceeding a threshold of 10% or more, the original estimates which were informed by the facility condition assessment last updated in 2022. Market pricing and labor costs have changed drastically over the last four years and have impacted smaller projects that are just beginning to be bid. Trustees reviewed these projects and the updated costs and asked that every contingency be considered. Parkhill architects are closely reviewing the scope of all projects to look for savings and are focused on negotiating the best possible cost with vendors.