Odessa approves $479K bid

ODESSA—The Odessa Montour school board approved a $479,953.70 telecommunications contract with Finger Lakes Technologies Group, Thursday, Sept. 23.
Superintendent Jim Frame said the district has been waiting for this part of the capital project, because it was rebid.  He explained this was the only bidder both times.  However, this latest bid is about $30,000 less than the first bid.
Business Manager Greg Dale also read a letter from Hunt Engineers endorsing Finger Lakes Technologies Group.
Frame said the work should take three months to complete and is for “the guts of telecommunications.”  He explained the bid covers a new phone system, intercom system, server room additions, and linking up security cameras.
In other business:
The school board also talked about the previous school year’s goals.  Frame read through them and board members commented.  The first was improving communication between the board, staff, and the community.
Frame said improving communication with the community is still a challenge, but said the board has been giving staff feedback.  The board originally talked about getting an electronic message board, which was installed this month.  The board agreed it was a good idea to advertise board meeting dates on the sign.
The board also talked about improving the Odessa-Montour district Web site.  Frame said it is being tweaked all the time, but there are some teachers who do not keep their pages up to date.
The third goal was long-term financial planning.  The board discussed doing zero-based budgeting when it came to the yearly budgets.
“This is extremely difficult to do because information changes every day,” said Frame about financial aid numbers.
The board also talked about better ways to monitor the monthly reports.
Frame did not ask the board to decide on new goals yet.  However, he talked about the goals high school Principal Greg Conlon discussed at the Sept. 9 meeting.  Frame said the 2008-09 graduation rate increased to 94 percent and can be attributed to Conlon’s plan to target seniors who might fail.
Board member Matt Walters again said he disagreed with lunchtime recreation being taken away from the high school students.  This year, high school students do not have the option to go to the gym during lunch time.  Frame said the change was made because no monitors were available.  Walters said students need chances to be more active, and this was one of them.