Trustees approve renovation bids
By LISA CARNLEY Staff Writer

In a called meeting last week, the Lampasas Independent School District Board of Trustees unanimously awarded two bids to Guyco Inc. of Lampasas.

The first bid, for about $1.14 million, is for renovations to Kline Whitis Elementary School.

Plans call for expansion of the cafeteria and relocation of a serving line to make more room in the kitchen. The stage in the cafeteria also will be removed to allow more space for students.

The school's library will be relocated to the area now being utilized as a gymnasium, and a 4,000-square-foot metal building will be added for physical education purposes and will contain a stage. It will be adjacent to the asphalt playground.

The old library will be converted into a music room.

When the new elementary campus opens in the east end of the county, a portion of Kline Whitis' student population will be to that school, and the portable buildings at Kline Whitis will be removed. Classrooms previously housed in those portables will be moved into the main building.

A second bid -- to prepare the campus on Broad Street to be converted for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students who will be housed there after completion of the new high school campus south of town -- was awarded for just over $1.6 million.

Plans for the old high school campus call for moving the kitchen to the back of the cafeteria and into space now occupied by the vocational wing. The old kitchen will be renovated to provide additional restrooms.

Fencing will be added to the Broad Street campus to make it more secure, including security gates with push bars that will allow students to exit but offer no entry point.

Some portables also may be moved off that campus.

Work on the current LHS campus is slated to begin May 1, while most construction at Kline Whitis Elementary will start when the school year ends, said Shane Jones, LISD director of finance.

Both projects should be completed in time for the opening of the 2008-09 school term.

When Taylor Creek Elementary School opens for the 2009-10 school year, the Kempner school will offer classes for prekindergarten through fifth-grade students.

Work on the new 1,600-student high school campus on U.S. Highway 281 is continuing on schedule. It should be ready for occupancy for the 2009-10 term.

Trustees are scheduled to gather again Monday at 6 p.m. at the District Administration Building for their regular monthly meeting.