Saline Area Schools board approves $1.4M in tech purchases, CARES grants and multiple facilities contracts

The Saline Area Schools Board of Education on Dec. 9 approved a series of procurement and grant decisions, including a $1,398,766.23 technology purchase, $73,239.60 in CARES discretionary grants and multiple facilities contracts supporting gym bleacher replacement, mechanical equipment for a STEM addition and furniture for a senior center.

The board voted unanimously to approve the technology bundle submitted by Jay Grossman, director of technology, which covered 531 MacBooks, 160 HP laptops and 640 Meraki wireless access points. Grossman told the board the purchase totals $1,398,766.23 and that the district plans to offer retiring staff a first opportunity to buy back their old devices, with recyclers handling equipment not re-used. "This will be planning for the next 7 to 8, 9, 10 years even for our Wi Fi to redo the whole district," Grossman said, explaining why the purchase covers access points districtwide.

The board also approved CARES discretionary funding round 1, totaling $73,239.60 as recommended by the CARES Advisory Council and presented by Brian Puffer, director of community education. Puffer said the committee received 10 requests totaling $98,589.60 and chose to fund a mix of full and partial awards while reserving 25% for a second round; the board approved the recommended awards 6-0.

Facilities actions approved included a $322,897 quote for north and south bleacher replacement in the Saline High School main gym, accepted as submitted by Executive Director of Operations Rex Clary; a trade contractor award to Trane for mechanical equipment totaling $892,679 for the Heritage STEM addition; and a furniture-and-installation package for the Saline Senior Center totaling $205,207.18. Clary told the board the bleacher work is being phased to minimize disruption and that the senior center furniture should deliver in early March with the space available to seniors around April 1.

All motions for the items recorded during the meeting passed without opposition; the board recorded multiple "aye" responses and no formal recorded no votes. The consent agenda and a separate motion to adopt the 2026 regular meeting calendar were likewise approved 6-0.

What’s next: Where procurement requires follow-up (for example, contractor allotments connected to the Heritage project), Clary said additional contractor approvals will return to the board in January. The district also retained a portion of CARES funds for a second application round with a January 23 deadline.

Vote at a glance: Approvals listed at the meeting included the agenda as revised (6-0), new course additions for 2026–27 (6-0), CARES round 1 awards totaling $73,239.60 (6-0), technology purchases totaling $1,398,766.23 (6-0), bleacher replacement $322,897 (6-0), Trane mechanical equipment $892,679 (6-0), senior center furniture $205,207.18 (6-0), consent agenda (6-0) and 2026 meeting calendar (6-0).