Leon County School Board Meeting Briefs: May 22, 2023

Below are the news briefs from the Leon County School Board meeting that took place on May 22, 2023.
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The Board considered an item, without any motion to vote attached to the item, that allowed for a public hearing regarding the adoption of new elementary social studies instructional materials. Numerous members of the public rose to express their concern over some of the new curriculum being offered to school districts by the state. Numerous people also brought up concerns over the ability of parents being able to file complaints regarding schools in classrooms.

Board Member Rosanne Wood expressed her concern over the instructional textbook being recommended to the school district by the state from Gallopade. However, Wood recommended finding history experts from FSU and FAMU to be subject matter experts on history.

Board Member Marcus Nicholas reminded the board and public that he was in favor of the McGraw-Hill instructional materials and not a fan of the Gallopade version.
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The Board considered and approved an item that extends professional architectural consulting services to Fitzgerald Collaborative Group, LLC for the Nims Middle School Cafeteria Replacement and Gym Renovation Project. The project comes in at just under $8 million and will include: a new cafeteria with stage/multipurpose dining area, demolition of existing cafeteria, new construction, remodeling and renovations to gymnasium and site work. Nine other firms submitted qualification statements for the project and fived were interviewed.

The Board also considered and approved the same kind of services to Architects Lewis+Whitlock, PA for: new classroom building, new gymnasium with locker rooms and stage, demolition of existing gymnasium, demolition of buildings 2, 4 and part of 9, demolition of existing stage in dining area to expand dining area, add additional parking, and enlarge holding pond. The total for this project comes up just shy of $7.5 million.
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The Board approved an item that would establish a short form agreement with Ripee Construction, Inc. for the Leon High School Crack Repair Project. The project will go assist with “structural stabilization of the South wing of the main building and repairs to interior wall cracks caused by building movement. Work includes, but is not limited to, site demolition, excavation & backfill, shoring, helical piles, below slab injections, and minor MEP disconnects as needed to access the site and other work as directed. The amount of this agreement is not to exceed $600,000.00.”

The contract can be viewed here and the short form agreement can be found here.
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The full meeting can be watched here.