The News staff writer

The board of trustees of the Port Arthur Independent School District received a complete update from new school building, to renovating older schools at their regular meeting Thursday night.

Mark Porterie, assistant superintendent, gave a preliminary report on preparation for the $189 million bond sale passed by voters in November 2007.

• Porterie began with the new Memorial High School being built on Ninth Avenue. He said everything from the main building, the Career and Technology building, to 18 science labs at the school were on schedule and under budget. He also told the trustees the school district completed the first sale of $65 million in bonds.

Porterie cautioned, however, the board must be cognizant of costs not included in the construction such as purchases for the maintenance department, fire sprinklers in renovated structures, ticket booths and janitorial storage.

• Next covered was the conversion of the old Woodrow Wilson Middle School into a performance and fine arts center. The east and west wings attached to the main building would cost $2 million to refurbish. It was recommended to demolish the wings and renovate the main building.

Abatement costs would be $1.9 million and $240,000 for demolition costs. The district held a $10 million bond sale for Wilson with $6 million being sold and $4 million left over from the sale.

• The press box at Memorial Stadium has been demolished to make way for a new one to be completed by August 2009. The press box will also be equipped with an ADA compliant elevator.

The new school board room being constructed at Stilwell Technical Center is scheduled to be completed by September 2009.

• Booker T. Washington Elementary has been demolished. Porterie said he has been asked why rebuilding hasn’t been started yet on the new school at the location. He replied the district has just begun receiving bids and hope to get things rolling this April and have students attend the new school in August 2010.

Board President Lloyd Marie Johnson and Trustee Willie Mae Elmore were concerned it would take the district two years to finish the school and have the students displaced for that length of time. Elmore said it took PAISD 18 months to finish DeQueen Elementary and didn’t see why it should take longer for Washington. Johnson and Elmore were told the project would be approached with due diligence.

• PAISD paid $1.9 million to the Doornbos Company for the land at 57th Street and Ninth Avenue for Staff Sergeant Lucian Adams Elementary to be built there. Porterie said the other land surrounding the school would had cost the district more. PAISD must also get water and sewer service to the school, raised the field to meet Federal Emergency Management Agency’s standards, build a road to the school and rehabilitate 57th Street for an estimated cost of $1.5 million. The school itself will cost $17 million and house 600 students.

Morcease Beasley, gave what he called a “sneak preview” on proposed 2010-2011 attendance zones for PAISD. Letters will soon be sent out to parents on the attendance zones. There will be 16 campuses in 2010 and a projected enrollment of 600 for elementary and middle schools and 2,354 students at the new Memorial High School.

dball@panews.com