Liberty-Eylau Independent School District's Board of Trustees approved the purchase of office and library furniture for the new elementary school during their regular meeting Thursday.
They agreed to spend $133,498.44 with Ledwell Office Solutions for the various furniture pieces, including desks, chairs and couches for the library and school entryways.
District spokesman Matt Fry said they were working well with the company to create a welcoming and colorful learning environment for the students and teachers.
"At the end of the day, I think we did a good service to our teachers and our kids," Fry told the board. "We want the kids to walk in and know immediately that this is a school for them and at the same time we want teachers to feel appreciated when they go into the lounges and they have the furniture in their rooms."
Last month, trustees approved the purchase of modular desks and other classroom furniture from Ledwell to create flexible learning environments.
"When our visitors come in and sit in the lobby, we want to give that feeling that if we care that much about these details (for them to know) how much will we care about the education we're providing for their kids," he said. "There are a lot of nonverbal cues that go into what furniture is and we appreciate the work Ledwell did."
In other business, Superintendent Ronnie Thompson gave a report on the number of disadvantaged students who take dual credit courses to earn college credit while still in high school.
He said Texarkana College has reduced the cost of dual credit courses for economically disadvantaged students to $50 per class for the first 12 hours of core instruction.
"One of the reasons they were doing that is they noticed that their economically disadvantaged enrollment in dual credit classes is 25.5 percent of the area they serve. They want to raise that up basically," Thompson said. "They're asking if we can cover the other $50 somehow maybe through foundations and try to make that absolutely free for economically disadvantaged students for the first 12 hours."
After he saw TC's numbers, he said he was curious about the number of disadvantaged students in the district who were taking dual credit.
"We're sitting at about 57 percent of economically disadvantaged students," he said. "We're doing a good job in that area. I think we can still even get that higher than where we're at, but we are doing a good job in that area. I wanted to point that out because that's an interesting statistic."
In other business, the board also heard a construction update from Scott Barnes, a project manager with Buford Thompson Construction, the contractor building the new elementary school.
"We're really getting some momentum after delays with the weather," he said, adding that all portions of the school have been roofed and that it is almost completely enclosed.
"We're working on the pavement and getting ready to place the reclaimed rock on the front of the school next week," he told the board.
All sheet rock should be hung in the next 30 days, he saidand air conditioning equipment will also be put in next week. The gross maximum price for the project is $17,342,316 and cost to date is $9,501,653.
Thompson also gave an enrollment report and said the district currently has 2,509 students and is in line with the average daily attendance budgeted for the year.