Bond improvements continue in Dexter Community Schools

The 2017 bond for Dexter Community Schools is still at work and in the coming months it will pay for more needed improvements.

In a letter to the school community, DCS Superintendent Chris Timmis gave an update on the bond and some of the upcoming projects.

The DCS community approved in 2017 a bond proposal to fund the upkeep and improvement of school facilities.

Timmis said the district is looking to do parking lot and entrance repairs/replacements of asphalt throughout the district, replacement of the visiting bleachers at Al Ritt Stadium, updated appliances in our foods classrooms at both Mill Creek and Dexter High School, Mill Creek technology course equipment updates, mechanical upgrades throughout buildings (i.e., cooling towers, chillers, boilers, HVAC, etc), bleachers at the twin turfs, and a potential restroom building at the twin turfs.

In addition, he said the district was recently able to purchase new mowers, plows, and maintenance equipment to maintain the 360 plus acres of property and 1,000,000 plus square feet of school space.

At its March 21 meeting, the Dexter school board approved two contracts as budget project.

Among the nearly $150,000 in upgrades to the visitor bleachers is that they will become fully ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. It will look very much the home side. The work is not expected to disrupt any upcoming sports or other events.

The second contract was in the amount of $585,485 is for pavement rehabilitation at Jenkins Early Childhood Learning Center, Wylie Elementary School and Dexter High School.

In looking at the bond projects overall, school board president Mara Greatorex recognized Craig McCalla for all of the work he has put in the past few months since taking on the new position of Principal of Operations in the district. She praised McCalla’s work in researching, bidding, and prioritizing the bond projects.

Greatorex said all of this is happening because of the community’s support of the bond, which she said improves the district in ways that wouldn’t be possible through the general fund budget.

Timmis emphasized this point in his letter.

“We are so blessed to have the support of the Dexter community through approval of the 2017 bond and are committed to maintaining high-quality facilities for our students and community while being good stewards of taxpayer funds,” Timmis said in his letter.

To date, Timmis said these funds have been used to build Beacon Elementary, the Ceriani Building, the Twin Turf fields at DHS, renovations and updates to buildings, flexible furniture in all schools, the Creekside quad fields, HVAC/Mechanical upgrades throughout the district, technology updates, new buses, and other identified projects.