MANSFIELD — The Mansfield Board of Education passed a resolution Tuesday night to purchase new math materials for elementary and middle school grades.
Curriculum director Stephen Rizzo said the the material will amount to nearly $194,000. Because of the steep cost, the resolution must be approved by the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission. The commission will meet on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
“Once the purchase order is in, it’ll take anywhere from 10 to 15 days to get the new textbooks,” Rizzo said after the meeting.
The purchase will include new and updated math textbooks for grades kindergarten through third grade, seventh and eighth grade and kindergarten through sixth grade at the Spanish Immersion school.
The district’s math materials for the above mentioned grades were last updated, June 2007. High school math textbooks and materials were last updated in 2010.
It will also include a subscription to a digital format.
“We’re looking at digital more now because our technology has grown immensely with what expertise City Mills has brought,” Rizzo said.
He added that he and his curriculum team will continue to encourage the use of digital platforms as students’ use of technology continues to advance.
Rizzo said he will try to review the high school’s math textbooks and materials to determine when they need to be replaced — which is a function that did not exist before having a curriculum director.
“This is just one small step we’re taking where we can balance a core subject,” he said. “What we’ve been missing is a cycle that maps out what needs reviewed and what we can implement moving forward.”
The board also approved a resolution that allows META Solutions, a Marion-based company that helps school districts find solutions to issues, enter into receiving bids for three new school buses.
Two buses will be 71 passenger conventional school buses and the other will be for transporting special needs students.
District Treasurer Robert Kuehnle said the process will take around six months to purchase the buses. Money will be taken from the general fund or the permanent improvement fund, he said.
META Solutions will also consult the district in monitoring energy usage and energy conservation in an annual contract of $2,250.
According to the board’s agenda summary of the contract, the “consultant will review electric and gas bills monthly for accuracy and usage and report findings to the treasurer.”
Financial news
Kuehnle said the district’s five-year forecast and the permanent appropriations will be ready at next month’s meeting.
“It’s (the five-year forecast) done, I just have to put together the verbiage that explains it all,” he told the board.
The Financial Planning and Supervision Commission is expected to meet on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
The board of education will meet again on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the Raemelton Administrative Building on Cook Road.
