BOE hears capital‑projects update: deferred‑maintenance spending up, design guidelines due for CIC in May

Dre Jones, executive director of capital programs and maintenance, told the Savannah‑Chatham County Board of Education on March 11, 2026 that the district has increased deferred‑maintenance spending and is advancing projects across its E3, E4 and newly launched E5 programs.

Jones said the district spent more of its capital resources on deferred maintenance this year — about 43% versus 17% last year — and attributed the shift to reorganized capital programs that allocate people and resources to the right projects. He told the board that about $26 million in E3 expenditures remain to be made in 2026 and that E4 carries projected expenditures around $153 million.

On construction design guidelines, Jones said the document will be a living standard; minimum standards (classroom square footage, core ancillary spaces) will remain stable but the district will update other elements as technology and best practices evolve. He said staff plan to present a version to the CIC next month and to the full board for approval in May.

The guidelines will add standards for lactation rooms (to align with Georgia law) and wellness spaces such as cool‑down and sensory rooms. Jones also described improvements to the district’s project management information system to centralize drawings, change orders and geotechnical files and said the district will codify lessons learned following each project.

Board members asked for implementation aids and public materials: several requested a district‑by‑district spreadsheet and an interactive map (previously produced in print) that shows what work has been done and what is planned. Staff said the printed map can be adapted for online publication but noted a federal ADA compliance deadline (April 2026) and technical hurdles to make some visual materials fully accessible.

The board discussed how prescriptive the document should be: some members said the front of the guidelines should state board policy — the foundational expectations for elementary, middle and high school facilities — while the body of the document remain as guidelines that operations can apply flexibly, with a documented internal process to record and justify deviations.

Members raised questions about sun shades after a recent $250,000 shade installation at JG Smith; Jones said shade structures require engineered footers, have higher wind‑load considerations in the area and are being placed on a 5–10 year replacement cycle depending on warranties.

Staff presented a fourth‑quarter change order report for October–December 2025, noting three change orders that required prior board action because they exceeded $50,000; no follow‑up questions were raised at the time.

Following the presentations and questions, a motion to go into executive session was moved and seconded; the posted transcript segment records the motion but does not include a recorded roll call or final vote in the available excerpt.