Deer Meadow roof still up in the air

With the start of school only days away, delays to the Percy Julian Drive aren't the only construction challenges facing the Greencastle Community School Corporation.

Bill Payne of Fanning Howey, the designers of Deer Meadow, briefed the school board Wednesday on the latest developments on the school's roof. Debates remain, though, in exactly the extent of the leak problems and who is responsible.

A proposal is on the table from Fanny Howey to repair all remaining valleys of the roof, including shingles in the surrounding area, ice and water shields and metal valley pans.

Improperly constructed expansion joints, to which many of the roof's problems have been attributed, will also be replaced. However, contractors have not yet decided on the exact course of action, with two possible ways of installing the new joints.

"Both of them will be good fixes, but we want to do the one that will be the longest term fix," Payne said. "We want to make sure we're getting the best possible roof at the best price."

Superintendent Lori Richmond said the school has also been offered a $21,000 quote to replace faulty shingles on the building. While she said the corporation appreciates the offer, the quote would only partially cover the cost of shingles and not cover any labor at all.

In an effort to save money in other areas and minimize the corporation's environmental impact, board member Monica Fennell proposed that the board look at paperless board meetings.

Currently, the board is mailed all paperwork for meetings in advance as well as having it waiting for members at the meetings.

She is interested in a plan to reduce the amount of paper.

"Can we do that? Right now, we get it through the mail. It costs to mail and it costs to copy," Fennell said.

A number of solutions were suggested for board members to still have access to agendas, financial documents and other important papers, such as emailing them, having a shared website where authorized parties could log in to view the documents and laptops for board members at meetings.

Richmond said none of these possibilities would be a problem.

Central office will move forward with the new procedure, with board members having electronic access to the files prior to meetings, while still having a traditional board packet awaiting them at meetings.

Richmond said the plan should be in place by next month's meeting, but October at the latest.

The transition to online school registration has gone well, with approximately 75 percent of students registered as of Wednesday.