By Raymond Billy

rbilly@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Jacksonville Independent School District officials seemed to agree Monday a plan to expand Nichols Intermediate School should be postponed.

During the meeting of the JISD Board of Trustees, Mike Leinback of JML Architects briefed the board on the projected costs of expanding Nichols by four rooms, five to six rooms, and seven to eight rooms. A four-room expansion would cost $909,144 and the eight-room upgrade could be funded for about $2,023,702. Leinback projected those prices will go up dramatically if JISD were to undertake the project a year from now because of the rapid inflation of construction costs.

Nichols Principal Tammy Jones told the school board in December the school’s enrollment would see a 141-student increase by the 2012-2013 school year. But, JISD Superintendent of Finance Lindy Finley said Monday that even at the current prices, it would be fiscally irresponsible for the district to authorize expanding Nichols because it now appears there might be significantly fewer students in the district next fall.

Earlier this year, Astro Air Inc. and Alliance Data Systems — two of Jacksonville’s largest employers — announced local plant closures, which will deplete the city of 620 jobs.

Finley said if JISD moved to expand Nichols only to see enrollment drop as families leave Jacksonville in search of work, it would negatively impact the district in two ways. First, the district would have taken on a project that is not currently necessary; second, they would be left to pay for the project with less money to do so, since so much of the district’s funding is based on a dollar-per-student formula devised by the state.

“If we knew we were going to be up 100 kids and we can anticipate more revenue to support the need, I would say ‘It’s a go.’ But, because we can’t, we don’t know what enrollment is going to do,” Finley said.

JISD Superintendent Stuart Bird said the district should take a wait-and-see approach to deciding if and when to expand the intermediate school.

“My feeling on this is that we should hold off for a year and look at where our enrollment goes and revisit this at that time,” Bird said.

Jones said Nichols is currently equipped to absorb the projected 39-student increase expected at the school this fall.

Also on Monday, the school board took action regarding upgrades to Jacksonville Middle School. Trustees voted to hire P.I. Roofing — an Arkansas-based company with a Jacksonville branch — to renovate the JMS roof. P.I was the lowest bidder on the project, with a base price of $990,486 to perform the operation. Additional costs may be added if more damage to the roof is discovered once the company starts work on the project. The school board voted to table hiring a company to handle the air conditioning upgrades at JMS pending an attempt to get more companies to bid for the project. The board also tabled a decision on a company to handle the JMS lighting retrofit project.

The Board of Trustees also voted to:

• approve a $2000 Best Buy Teacher Award for Kandie Bruckner;

• approved proposed 2008-2009 textbook selection for math;

• approved selection of IHST as consultant for JHS Asbestos removal project;

• approved minor changes to current JISD dress code; and

• approved consent agenda.

The JISD Board of Trustees regularly meets at 6:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month at the JISD Administration Building, 1547 Pine St.