JARRETT GOODMAN
Staff Writer
Members of Marion County’s Board of Education (BoE) unanimously agreed to the construction of new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) labs for both Jasper and Whitwell Middle Schools for over $410,000.
During the meeting, Director of Schools Mark Griffith took the floor to explain about the bid when asked by Chairman Ryan Philips for clarification. He stated how the board originally made a Request for Proposal (RFP) prior to bidding being opened, as RPFs are required under state law. Following the BoE’s February meeting, once the RFP was made to allowing bidding for the project, two bids were submitted for both schools. However, due to several key specifications being left out from the original request for both projects, in addition to a third bid being sent directly to the BoE, the board was needed to reject the original two bids submitted through the first request in order to examine and potentially approve the third bid, ultimately re-bidding the project entirely.
“All of this has happened within the time frame of the last meeting,” Griffith said.
The third bid mentioned was submitted by SmartLab, a major education-based platform founded by Creative Learning Systems, the platform specializing in the provision of STEM lab resources through curricular support and collaborative partnerships. SmartLab’s bid was worth $410,496.40, all costs to directly fund the construction of Jasper and Whitwell Middle’s new STEM labs. Under the bid, Jasper’s STEM lab will cost $222,070.73 and Whitwell Middle will cost $188,425.67, adding to the grand total documented for the school system’s newest project.
All members of the BoE agreed to SmartLab’s bid during the board’s March meeting, and the platform will now help spearhead each classroom’s establishment within both schools.