GISD approves over $100,000 in purchases
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(MIKE WILLIAMS | THE GRAHAM LEADER) The replacement of the scoreboard at the Graham baseball and softball fields was approved by the Graham ISD Board of Trustees last Wednesday. The purchase of both board replacements will be reimbursed by Graham Interbank.
The Graham ISD Board of Trustees last Wednesday approved budget amendments for the purchase of new Chromebooks for four campuses as well as security cameras for Woodland Elementary School totaling $193,500. The board additionally approved funding the replacement of the baseball scoreboard, additional Promethean active panels for Graham High School and a software/hardware upgrade for the Project Lead the Way program at Graham Junior High School totaling $111,385.
The district is required per local school district policy for single budgeted purchases of goods or services $25,000 or more to be approved by the board before the transaction takes place. The district brings forth projects annually to the board to be funded for completion during the summer months.
The first item brought before the board that required a budget amendment was for the purchase of 400 new Chromebooks at Graham High School, Graham Junior High School, Woodland Elementary School and Pioneer Elementary School at a total cost of $156,000. These devices will replace out of date devices at these campuses and allow students to use the Chromebooks for daily tasks and state testing.
“There is 400 Chromebooks that we bought many moons ago that are now outdated and obsolete and un-updatable. (We are) unable to update them. We’re going to purchase the Chromebooks at a total of $156,000. The nice thing about this is (...) about a month ago, (GISD Technology Director) Chris Rasile was (saying) that through the Emergency Connectivity Fund, there are funds out there that can be used to replace these devices. So if we do get that grant, which crossing our fingers (but it’s) not guaranteed, but we think we will, it would cover all but $18,760 of this purchase, but we still need to approve the purchase in case we are on the hook for it (...) and that would require a budget amendment,” GISD Superintendent Sonny Cruse said during the meeting last Wednesday.
For the full story, see the Wednesday, May 18 edition of The Graham Leader.
