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Bellwood-Antis School Board hired The EADS Group to put together a long-term plan for future sports fields or extracurricular activity spaces Tuesday, Thomas Kovac, director of facilities, said.
"We are not committing to any large projects at this time, but we want to make sure that when we start, we go into it with a large-scale game plan," he said of the $10,000 study.
The board also approved a $3,000 agreement with CMT Laboratories to take core samples of the tracks and to create a report describing the condition of the subsurface.
Kovac said by doing this, the board will be able to solicit competitive pricing to replace the current track and to ensure all contractors would have equal information for putting together their quotes.
"We are hoping to be able to replace the running track in the near future as it has far exceeded its useful life," he said.
Kovac said neither of these contracts commit the district to large projects at this time, however, both agreements pave the way for projects to take place and ensure the district gets the best projects possible for the money that will be spent.
In other matters, Bellwood-Antis Middle School Principal Don Wagner gave an update on its After-School Academy.
The program, which began in the 2021-22 school year, has been changed from four days to two days a week, and the length went from 27 to 18 weeks for financial reasons as government funding is running out, Wagner said.
The program has been entirely funded with federal COVID funds with the full program cost being $5,000 to $6,000 a year, he said.
With the changes to the program this year, Wagner said they are spending about $3,000.
He said the program typically has about 20-40 students a year participating.
"We have found it to be very helpful to struggling students," Wagner said.
He said Bellwood-Antis would love to keep the program running and is looking for grant funds to allow it to do that.
Mirror Staff Writer Cati Keith is at 814-946-7535.