Questions arise in technology contract with school

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Charles City Superintendent of Schools Mike Fisher and April Hanson, the district’s director of technology, provided an update on recent technology bids to the Charles City School District board of directors at Monday’s meeting.

One point of contention is whether the school district or the contractor should be responsible for electrical hookups.

Hanson said there are currently questions regarding whether the electrical hookup was included in the bid to build audio visual classrooms in the school district.

“We’re trying to find out if they misunderstood what all was in the RFP (request for proposals),” Hanson told the board.

In February, the board approved an RFP for the lease of student Chromebooks for grades 3-12, audio-visual classrooms, as well as managed print and copy services, among several other technological upgrades.

Then in March, the district approved a major technological purchase that included the 5-year lease of 1,360 HP Chromebook student devices from Now Micro at a monthly cost of $4,728, the 5-year lease of 132 audio visual classrooms from Marco Technologies at a monthly cost of $14,720, and the 5-year lease of 44 Toshiba and Lexmark products and managed print services from Access Systems for a monthly cost of $3,527.

Hanson said that in recent discussions, Marco Technologies made suggestions regarding how the school’s electrician could add electrical outlets to the classrooms, which implied that electrical hookups weren’t a part of the contract Marco signed with the district.

“I read the RFP multiple times, and it’s clear that everything that would be installed would be ‘plug and play,’ and ready to go,” Fisher said. “So if electricity wasn’t included in their bid, in my judgment that was clear that was the meaning.”

Fisher said that he has gone back to Marco and they have acknowledged there is an error, and they are “trying to figure it out.”

“It was clear to me that their bid included electricity. If it does not, we’ll come back to the board and discuss that bid,” Fisher said. “Obviously if a bid doesn’t meet specs, it’s on them to fix that and resolve this.”

The student devices and audio visual classroom lease payments will be paid from the facilities fund, and the managed print services and print equipment will be paid from the general fund.

Also Monday, the board approved the 2020-21 administrative support salary schedule. The agreement advances the staff step and increases the wages by 12 cents per hour. Health premiums increased 8% and dental premiums 1.2%.

Fisher explained that the administrative support staff is a unique employee group consisting of various groups, including employees in the Central Services offices and in the offices at each school building.

He said that while some administrative assistants are part of collective bargaining, those in this particular administrative support staff are not.

“In addition, we have some other employees who are not part of that bargaining group,” Fisher said. “It comes down to how the Public Relations Employee Board classifies employees.”

Fisher said that he still wanted these non-union employees to have a voice, so he met with them and quickly came to an agreement for a pay raise package.

The Negotiation and Compensation Committee reviewed the wage recommendation.

The board also passed a resolution on Monday in recognition of Teacher Appreciation Month, which is in May. It was resolved that the Charles City Community School District Board of Directors “strongly encourages all members of our community to join with it in personally expressing appreciation to our teachers for their dedication and devotion to their work.”

The board viewed a short video put together by students thanking the teachers in the district, and viewed another video by Bill Cavanaugh, who lauded the district for the way it has handled the COVID-19 shutdown.

“What we have accomplished as a community, with the schools jumping in and taking the lead, your leadership has paved the way,” Cavanaugh said in the video. “Tenacity and compassion are two words you don’t often hear together in the same sentence, but you as a school district represent that statement to me.”

In other action Monday, the board approved the purchase of a parcel of property from the city of Charles City along the east side of Comet Field and approved the reimbursement agreement for the purchase on April 13.

The city acted on the agreement with the district at the City Council meeting on Monday, May 4. It is anticipated that the offer to buy will replace the reimbursement agreement once it is executed by both parties. The tentative plan is for the City Council to set the offer to buy for a June 1 hearing date at its May 18 council session.

Fisher explained that the city is letting the district buy the property at cost, and that the property is one of three small parcels of real estate nearby that the district wishes to purchase, to use as space lost with the construction of the new athletic complex.

The purchase price shall be $15,000. The offer was drafted by City Attorney Brad Sloter and reviewed by the district’s attorney, Conner Wasson.

In other business Monday, the school board:
— Accepted the April 2020 financial reports as presented by business manager Terri O’Brien.
— Heard information presented by teachers Alexis Whealy and Jenae Noonan regarding the evaluation system changes for teachers and support staff members.
— Approved the resignation of Karen Sadler, school nurse, effective at the end of the school year.
— Approved the contract modification of Bret Spurgin, changing his extended days from 25 to 50, with his extended days salary from $6,079.14 to $12,158.28.
— Approved a letter of understanding with the Charles City Community Education Association regarding Schedule F changes to the HS Cheerleading and Dance Team supplemental pay and combining the two into the Spirit Team coaching structure.
— Approved summer worker assignments at $9 per hour for Wendy LaBarge, Terri Hay, Julie Tjabring, Sonja Cotton, Tricia Kilby, Kim Carman and Jane Offerman.
— Approved a master services agreement with Frontline Education for their time and attendance software. The cost includes $6,375 for one time implementation, and $872.94 for prorated annual fees, May 11 to June 30. The current time keeping software is with TimeClock Plus.
— Received certificates of appreciation from Fisher in recognition of School Board Recognition Month in May. Receiving the certificates were board members President Josh Mack (2017), Vice-President Missy Freund (2017), Scott Dight (1993-2005) (2013), Pat Rottinghaus (2019), and Janiece Bergland (2019). Isaish Tilton and Cael Ruzicka are the 2019-20 student board members.