District 95 plans building updates

Summer plans to update buildings in Carbondale Elementary School District 95 were approved at the Dec. 19 meeting of the Carbondale Elementary School District 95 Board of Education.

Superintendent Daniel Booth said the building committee had identified four projects that can be done during the summer break, among them getting rid of carpeting in all buildings and replacing it with tile, or a material that "doesn't hold odors."

Restrooms in the older parts of Parrish, Thomas and Lewis schools will be upgraded. And those schools will all receive new coats of paint, particularly on sections of yellow tile.

And the playgrounds will get new rubberized surfaces.

"Our goal is next year when teachers walk into their building, the building will have a facelift," Booth said.

Funding for the projects will come from revenue generated by Jackson County's 1 percent sales tax for schools.

Board members voiced concerns about the projects, among them Vice President Carlton Smith, who asked why more couldn't be done to improve the heating and air conditioning in the classrooms.

Booth said that work would have to wait for a larger project: additions to Lewis and Thomas schools to replace temporary modular buildings. Those jobs would entail a complete reworking of the heating and cooling systems in those buildings, Booth said.

The board, with Smith, President John Major, Secretary Catherine Field and members Carlee Coplea, Markida Roper, Gary Shepherd and Angela Watters, voted 7-0 to approve the work plans.