CMSD Board of Trustees discusses Capital Improvement Plan
District Maintenance Manager Stephen Little provided updates on these capital projects.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The Columbus Municipal School District’s Board of Trustees had a full agenda for the meeting. One very important item was the Capital Improvement Plan for the school district.
WCBI sat in on that meeting and found out how one school building needs some major work, and the district may have to jump through some hoops to get it all done.
Many factors go into providing students with the keys to success and the Columbus Municipal School District Assistant Superintendent Craig Chapman believes one of those is the right environment.
“Across the board and on each campus our board of trustees, as well as our maintenance department, and our Superintendent’s office had a chance to do a walk-through of each campus to find areas that needed improvements. There was this list that was composed in 2019 where we wanted to go through with updating and upgrading the issues that we saw around each campus,” said Chapman.
The District also enlisted the help of the architecture firm Pryor and Morrow to look for the things district leaders may have missed.
The results of that study were presented to the board last week.
District Maintenance Manager Stephen Little provided updates on these capital projects.
One of the main talkers was Franklin Academy.
“A year or so back we did have the roof repaired at Franklin but that did not cover the whole roof. There is insurance money but there are still some areas that need to be replaced,” said Little.
Little told the board about other projects for Franklin that were out of his budget. Ranging from new bathrooms and an auditorium refresh to repairing parts of the parking lot.
“We have several things on Franklin that are on the ESSER list and some that are not but I want to share some areas with you on Franklin that need looking at,” said Little.
Assistant Superintendent Craig Chapman says some repairs require special funding and specifications.
“We couldn’t spend any funds with Franklin with our (esser projects?) and of course with Franklin, you have to go through the national archives and history in order to complete some of those projects so right now we are trying to focus on our next move and steps in completing the projects for those needed upgrades at Franklin,” said Chapman.
While the district has a timeline to tackle projects for each school, Chapman said the goal is to provide a safe and conducive place for learning.
“Right now we are doing everything we can to ensure our campuses are upgraded and our maintenance department as well as the entire team are putting in an effort to take those next steps in making sure our campuses are safe and secure for our students,” said Chapman.
Chapman did tell me that at this point the board of trustees is discussing funding for these projects at Franklin.
