The Perry School Board held a work session recently to discuss the proposed three-year major facilities plan, which was brought forward by Superintendent Clark Wicks. While nothing was decided during the session, it gave the Board a lot to consider.

According to Wicks, the District has a maximum of $245,000 per year available in their Statewide Penny for Infrastructure and Physical Plant and Equipment Levy funds. With that figure in mind, the Board is working on specific projects and purchases to prioritize for the betterment of the District. A few projects that were specifically identified included vehicle purchases, painting, carpeting replacements, and possibly supplementing the Dewey Field improvement project. Wicks also pointed out there are energy and electrical priorities.

“Also with that is replacing our lighting system with LED lights. And that can be a huge savings out of the general budget, because it’s reducing our consumption of electricity. We need to take a look at that, and I know the Board is very interested in that. And then the electrical piece at the middle school, we need to get a handle on the need there. Because when that building was built, it wasn’t built for all the computers that are used now. So we need to assess that a little bit and get a good idea of what our needs are electrically speaking.”

The Board will study the three-year facilities plan and the available funds in the coming weeks, and they will reconvene for another work session on Thursday, December 7th. Wicks adds, they need to reach a decision on the LED lighting soon, in order to take advantage of cost-saving opportunities. To learn more about this and other Perry School Board topics, listen to last Tuesday’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.