Contract approved for Brown remodel project

PORTALES — The Portales Municipal Schools Board of Education approved a contract with Formative Architecture to design a remodel project at the Brown Early Childhood Center during Monday’s meeting.

Superintendent Johnnie Cain said the remodel will include adding a bathroom to each kindergarten classroom at the school, which he said was built in the 1940s.

Cain said the project, set for completion by February 2020, will cost about $2.7 million, with $1.6 million to come from the state via capital outlay and the remainder to come from the district’s bond money.

In other business at Monday’s meeting (all votes 5-0):

• The board approved an amended plan for the district’s alternative demonstration of competency, which provides additional opportunities for students to graduate beyond the traditional benchmarks.

Cain said the plan approved Monday did not include any significant changes to the alternative demonstration of competency program the district has had for several years and simply cleaned up some of the language and clarified a few items.

• Cain said the board will have a work session at noon on Nov. 12 to go over the district’s five-year facility master plan, to be approved at the January board meeting. The district’s annual preventive maintenance plan was approved Monday.