FAIRMONT - With 13 days until the start of school at Fairmont Area, construction projects are wrapping up and buildings being readied for students.
Superintendent Joe Brown says the projects are on time and under budget, and school will start as scheduled.
"We are very, very pleased," he told school board members Tuesday.
Brown said that while there are mounds of dirt still visible at Five Lakes Elementary as crews work on tiling, much of the interior work there and at the high school is complete.
Teachers can go back into the buildings on Monday, the first day cars are allowed to drive on the newly paved lots.
Work on the new Five Lakes addition is scheduled to begin next month, and the first bid package for the $15 million project was approved Tuesday night for $1.5 million. It includes the site excavation work. The Joseph Company of Austin won the bid, and was more than $200,000 under the next closest bidder.
There are two more bidding cycles scheduled for the Five Lakes addition. One is scheduled for Sept. 30, and the next Nov. 9.
In other business:
o Several individuals have applied for the cheerleader adviser position after concern that fall sports would go without cheerleaders for lack of leadership. District officials will be interviewing applicants in the coming weeks.
o Lavonne Bowman reported that the fund-raising effort for Stuff for Schools, a program to provide school supplies for every kindergartner in the county, fell short this year.
The organization had to dip into its reserves to ensure that every student received the items.
Supplies for each student cost $16.50, and a total of $2,502.08 was donated to the district for the purchase. Donations are still being accepted at the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce.