Saline Area Schools Makes Some Purchases

Saline Area Schools devoted over $2 million at the December 9 school board meeting on a variety of purchases, including new technology and bleachers.

The school board unanimously approved a handful of purchases as the school district looks to address a range of needs.

The first approval was the technology purchases, which were recommended by Jay Grossman, Saline’s Director of Technology, in the amount of $1,398,766.23.The cost breakdown includes: 531 MacBooks from Apple totaling $498,769, 160 HP Laptops from InaCompTSG totaling $115,980 and 640 Meraki Wireless Access Points totaling $784,017.

In Grossman’s report, he said the laptop purchases “will be used to replace our staff laptops as well as three student laptop carts at the High School to be used for the start of the 2026/27 school year.” He said the current laptops were purchased in 2021 and have reached their five year end-of-life period.

The bleacher project will see the north and south bleachers replaced at the Saline High School Main Gymnasium in the amount of $322,897. This was recommended by Rex Clary, Saline’s Executive Director of Operations, who said the existing bleachers system is extremely difficult and labor intensive to operate in its present condition with the age of the bleachers now over 20 years old that continues to require monthly service calls resulting in significant repair costs. The new bleachers will be installed during the summer of 2026, limiting loss of revenue from the gymnasium space or loss of use by the students.

Clary said they have planned for the replacement bleachers to be more spectator friendly that will be safe and reliable. The plan is to add an additional row to reduce the height of the steps while the handrail system will be integrated into the bleacher and a “front” handrail will be installed.

The last two approvals by the school board included the purchase of furniture and their installation at the Saline Senior Center totaling $205,207, and new mechanical equipment totaling $892,679.00 for the Saline Area Schools Heritage STEAM addition.

Photo: Rex Clary, Saline’s Executive Director of Operations, stands before the school board on Dec. 9. Photo is a screenshot from Saline Video YouTube Channel.