Alma School District approves carpet‑square pilot and signs grant partnership to pursue Warm, Safe and Dry funds

The Alma School District board voted to move forward with a multi‑year facilities maintenance plan that emphasizes installing carpet squares in classrooms and pursuing outside grant funding for larger projects. Speaker 1 said the district plans to "buy carpet squares" and pilot installing one classroom internally to test time and feasibility.

Board members said the plan calls for installing new carpet in roughly four classrooms per school and repainting classrooms annually. Speaker 1 described the carpet‑square approach as more durable and easier to repair: "most time, it's just 1 little area that's bad. So now we take up 4 or 5 squares, put new squares on it," reducing the need for full replacements.

During discussion Speaker 1 rejected an alternative of polishing concrete, saying, "His dream of polished concrete is not gonna work," noting past attempts and adhesion problems. Board members discussed limits on in‑house work; Speaker 3 estimated the district self‑performs "about a quarter" of the items on the maintenance list and cited warranty issues for playground work as a reason to contract out some projects.

Separately, the board approved a facilities partnership resolution required to apply for the next cycle of Warm, Safe and Dry projects. Speaker 2 said the resolution is the same template the district has used previously for grant cycles; a subsequent motion to adopt the resolution was seconded and "motion carries." The resolution preserves the district’s eligibility for future funding to address urgent building repairs.

Board members said the district will use any year‑end maintenance surplus to cover additional flooring and maintenance needs and will continue to evaluate whether more work can be completed in‑house. The board did not record specific dollar amounts for the multi‑year plan during the meeting.