Miranda H. Lewis
Carter County Times
A geotechnical survey has been approved to examine the bearing capacities of soils and the design of both deep and shallow foundations on which the future Carter County High School, Carter County Career and Technical Center, and amenities will potentially sit.
According to Beth Bauer, RossTarrant Associate and Project Manager, the architecture firm has had several meetings with Superintendent Dr. Paul Green to discuss a schedule and the scope of the prospective construction project.
“The most critical item at the moment, is that we need to bid on phase one which would be the earthwork, we’re looking at getting a geo-tech done soon,” said Bauer.
“We need to bid on a phase of the project by September and have it under contract,” she noted.
The second and third phases include utilities/road access and the building portion itself, which will each have their own schedule advised Bauer.
Survey work will help study soil conditions and the overall condition of the land to advance the project’s engineering and determine the best project design and environmental measures.
“Using soil borings to drill down to see what is in the ground beneath,” explained Bauer. “It will tell you what you have material wise, it will also tell you where rock is and that’s important because of the earthwork that will have to be done and also to get an idea of where the building will need to go, for the foundation of the building.”
“It’s pertinent information that someone has to drill to know what’s underground [before moving forward with the building process],” she added.
The findings will be analyzed and reported to members of the Board of Education by the architecture firm which subcontracts the work.
RossTarrant originally solicited three firms before narrowing their options down to two, S&ME and CSI.
Ultimately, the firm found S&ME to be more favorable for phase l/earthwork due to their quick turnaround time.
“The turnaround time is critical right now so we can get the project out to bid,” agreed David West, President of Trace Creek Construction, Inc.
After a motion to accept the geotechnical surveyor recommendation by Rachel Fankell, with a second from Chris Perry, the measure passed unanimously.
In other news, Jennifer Fraley, Chief Academic Officer, announced that Carter County received six Reading Diagnostic Intervention Fund (RDF) grants totaling $200,000.
“These will extend CKLA Amplify to third grade and support the purchase of high quality student instructional resources for K-3,” said Fraley.
Fraley announced that a micro-credential based Algebra l class will begin with the 2023-2024 school year at West Carter High School.
“Both East and West Carter have established criteria for eighth grade students to be eligible to take Algebra I at high school,” she concluded.
Moving forward, members of the board commended Green for the superb job he’s done “moving the district forward”.
Board chair Lisa Ramey-Easterling presented the superintendent evaluation.
“There are seven standards for the superintendent evaluation,” she began. “Those standards are strategic leadership, instructional leadership, cultural leadership, human resources leadership, managerial leadership, collaborative leadership, and influential leadership.”
“Of course, he had no improvement required or development,” she said.
The board scored Green accomplished on three out of the seven standards, including human resource leadership, managerial leadership and collaborative leadership. Green was recognized as exemplary in strategic, instructional, cultural, and influential leadership.
“Our board is super pleased to have just number one, a great board, but also a great superintendent leading our district,” said Ramey-Easterling.
The board extended their gratitude to Green by thanking him for his work.
“And there are things that he does every day that we don’t even know about that we appreciate,” she acknowledged.
Contact the writer at miranda@cartercountytimes.com
