JACKSON — Renovations to the two kitchens at Jackson Memorial High School received the green light from the Jackson School District Board of Education during a meeting on Sept. 20.
InAugust, six bids ranging in price from $1.3 million to almost $1.8 million were received by the board from contractors seeking to win the contract. The board rejected all of those bids.
Asecond round of bids produced results that were more in line with the board’s budget for the project, and a contract in the amount of $935,000 was awarded to 3R Painting and Contracting, Ocean Township, to undertake the project.
District administrators said the work will mark the first time the kitchens at Jackson Memorial will have been renovated since the school opened in 1964.
Administrators said work in each kitchen will take about two months to complete.
In other news, the board approved a number of support staff employees for various student health, educational and literacy initiatives throughout the district.
Costs for each service varied, with the appointment of Dr. Marilyn Gonyo, of the Education Assessment Center, becoming a point of contention for some members of the board.
Gonyo’s services, which trains staff in the entire district to support literacy initiatives, will cost $750 a day, with the total capped at $50,000 for the school year.
“We don’t pay our teachers, who I think are great, this kind of money,” board member Marvin Krakower said. “I just think we can find people who give quality services for our kids and therefore we can provide even more services for those $750 a day.”
Money to pay outside consultants like Gonyo comes directly from state grants, administrators said.
“I know of another school district that has three schools and was paying $100,000 for a similar consulting service,” Superintendent of Schools Thomas Gialanella said. “In the world of expertise and vendors, [$750 a day] is not an expensive number, although it may seem expensive to us.”
The board ultimately passed all items pertaining to outside consultants, with Theresa Schiazza joining Krakower in his dissenting vote.