Shiner keeping audits for new school secret for now
Friday, May 12, 2006
Barry Halvorson, Victoria Advocate Reporter

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SHINER - The Shiner school district's preliminary audit of contracts regarding the construction of a new school campus will remain confidential, at least for now.

Shiner School Superintendent Trey Lawrence said the district's attorney has advised them to keep it confidential because it is a preliminary report. The audit was conducted by the Texas Education Agency at the request of state school board member Cynthia Thornton.

"The district has 20 days to respond and I expect to submit it on Friday," Lawrence said. "And I expect the final TEA report will then be issued in approximately 10 working days. After that the final report will be made public. The only comment I can offer at this time is that I think the people of Shiner will be pleased with the outcome when it is made public."

Lawrence presented the information during his report to the school board at Wednesday night's meeting. He said attorney George Grimes of Walsh-Anderson of Austin/San Antonio advised him to only discuss the audit in the attorney's presence and then only in executive session.

Board member Gloria Reindl questioned Lawrence's comments, saying that it was the district's choice to keep the preliminary report confidential based on her conversations with TEA representatives. She later wanted it noted for the record that she had questions concerning the audit that were not answered at the meeting.

Trustee Laura Kaspar said she had contacted the TEA and was told that the district was required by the state agency to keep the information confidential. Board President Denise Overton added that she felt it was important for the board to follow the advice of its attorneys.

On Feb. 6 Thornton said she was requesting the audit after receiving a number of e-mails, letters and phone calls from district residents during January asking for help with the financial conditions of the district.

At the board's Jan. 11 meeting, the trustees approved a guaranteed price of $7.353 million for the new school project.

Also Wednesday, the board received an update on the school construction from architect Jim Singleton. He said the work is running slightly behind schedule, explaining the first concrete slab has not been poured because the plumbing contractor is running behind because the ground is so hard due to the drought.

"But the good news is that the hard ground will make for a good foundation," he said. "We are now scheduled to pour the first slab, the biggest of three, next Tuesday or Wednesday. And we should have all the slabs poured before the arrival of the pre-engineered building in the four to five weeks."

Singleton also presented color samples of the tiles, carpeting and trim that will be used in the building and a schematic showing how those colors would be assembled in the school. The colors were shades of purple and gold - the school's colors

"I love the colors because they are going to be bright," Overton said. "Adding color really brings the concept to life. Before, things were just drawings but now I can imagine the students and teachers in the building and dropping my own children off at school."

Singleton also presented the board with a new rendering of how the campus will look. Included were some parking lot areas, landscaping and awnings that Singleton said are not actually accounted for in the budget.

The architect added that his firm, along with the contractor for the project, Sterling Structures, are working daily on the plans to cut costs and add back in aspects of the original design that had been deleted due to funding limitations.

In a report on utilities to the site, located adjacent to Comanche Stadium, Lawrence said the district is still negotiating with the city of Shiner on water and wastewater service but that the two entities were close to an agreement before those connections are needed in July.

The new school campus will include two main buildings. The main classroom building will consist of two floors with the lower floor for elementary grades and second floor for middle school and high school for general instruction. The second building will include a library, science and computer labs, vocational instruction, gym, fine arts facilities and a commons area. The commons will serve as a cafeteria, for concessions for athletic events and includes a stage for meetings and school theatrical and musical performances.

Barry Halvorson is a reporter for The Victoria Advocate.
Contact him at 361-798-3888, or by e-mail at hvilladv@vicad.com.

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