January 17, 2024 — Work is already underway on Midland ISD’s new elementary school, and on Tuesday at its January meeting, Trustees made several decisions related to making Bond 2023 projects a reality. Future Elementary This past week, crews were at the future site of the new elementary school taking soil samples, which is a step in determining what’s necessary for the facility’s foundation. The new school is being built in the Lone Star Trails area, generally located in northeast Midland. District leaders, the bond program manager and campus representatives from Special Education, Child Nutrition Services, Transportation and Technology, as well as the current principals from Fasken and Yarborough elementary schools, met for a kickoff meeting to discuss the new school and areas where the design can be improved. The school will be similar in design to Fasken and Yarborough, so gathering feedback from campus representatives currently working in these buildings was a critical step in improving the design. The new elementary school is on track to open in August 2025. Architecture & Engineering Selection Trustees approved a pool of 12 qualified architecture and engineering firms to be considered for professional design services on projects related to the 2023 Bond Program. A selection committee made up of district leaders evaluated 18 submissions to determine its recommendation for the pool. The committee based its recommendation on each firm’s overall experience with similar projects, specific experience of proposed project team members, capacity to perform the projects within the bond program timeline given their intended scale, experience in the Midland area and past relationship with the district. Trustees approved Pfluger Architects as the firm from the approved pool to design the district’s new Legacy High and Midland High school projects. Other firms in the pool are Parkhill, WRA Architects, MWM Architects, Jacob & Martin, DLR Group, Vandergriff Group Architects, JSA Architects, Chapman Harvey Architects, JDMA Architects, Corgan and PBK Architects. Surveying & Geotechnical Services Selection Trustees also approved a pool of vendors for surveying and geotechnical services. Surveyors selected to be considered for 2023 Bond Projects are Centurion Planning & Design, Enprotec/Hibbs & Todd, KMCE, Dunaway Associates, Halff Associates and Maverick Engineering. For geotechnical services, CQC Testing & Engineering, Millennium Engineers Group, Terracon, Magrym Consulting and Terra Testing were approved. Bond Underwriting Twenty-two submissions were submitted for the bond underwriting pool. Once the reviews have been completed by district administrators, the pool of bond underwriters will be presented to the board at the February board meeting. The bond order will be presented at the February board meeting. |