Board approves tractor, auditorium curtains, planetarium renovation and textbook adoptions

At its May 18 meeting the Northwest Allen County Schools board approved a series of capital and curriculum items on the business and curriculum agendas.

Capital purchases: Mr. Basham presented a recommendation that the Cedar Canyon tractor purchase be awarded to Bobcat of Fort Wayne for the low bid of $68,015.18; trustees approved the purchase by voice vote. Basham also recommended replacing all front stage curtains at Carroll High and, after receiving one responsive quote, recommended Rose Brand for $70,994.40; trustees discussed the single bid and approved the Rose Brand purchase. For the Carroll High planetarium renovation, Basham said the district solicited quotes and received a single responsive bid and recommended Ash Enterprises; trustees approved that project as presented (the transcript records that only one response was received; the bid amount was not specified in the meeting record).

Curriculum and staffing approvals: Dr. Toler presented secondary English and world languages textbook adoption recommendations and said some middle school teams will use open‑ended, teacher‑created curriculum while other grade levels requested materials; he estimated the overall cost of adoptions was under $300,000 and said the district saved significantly this adoption cycle. The board approved the textbook adoptions. Toler also obtained approvals for PLTW trainings, transportation conference attendance, and summer reading remediation staffing at Perry Hill.

Votes and process notes: Most approvals were by unanimous voice vote with motions and seconds recorded on the record; where competitive bidding returned a single responsive quote, trustees discussed vendor availability before approving the recommendation.