DANVILLE — The District 118 School Board will begin its meeting Wednesday at South View Middle School to view the ongoing renovation project.

“We will take a quick tour of the facilities,” Superintendent Mark Denman said. “Mr. (Ron) Henton (buildings and grounds director) will take us around the building.

“We’re ahead of schedule; school will start as usual,” he said of the project.

Henton said he plans to recommend to the school board on Wednesday that Schmidt Associates from Indianapolis be hired as the architect for the North Ridge Middle School renovation project at the same rate of pay as the firm received for the South View project, which is 5.225 percent of the estimated construction cost or $705,375.

“We’ve had great cooperation with our current architect,” Henton said.

If the board approves the hiring of Schmidt Associates, Henton said that would give the architectural firm three-and-a-half months to draw up plans for the North Ridge renovations.

In keeping with that timetable, the school district could solicit bids from contractors in February, giving contractors 30 days to write up and submit their bids.

Henton said about halfway through the 30-day period, contractors would be invited to take a site tour of North Ridge, which would give contractors another couple of weeks to adjust their bid numbers.

“We need more time with North Ridge,” Denman said. “The topography there presents more challenges (than South View).”

Overall, Henton said the South View renovation project is “a tad bit ahead of schedule.”

“All the roof trusses have been installed, the windows are being installed and the lockers will be installed beginning Monday,” he said.

The foundation also has been poured for the cafetorium, he added.

Also on Wednesday, the school board will consider a recommendation to hire additional support staff using leftover federal funding from the federal jobs bill as well as Title I.

Denman said of the $2.5 million District 118 received from the job bill, about $600,000 is left that must be spent by September 2012 or be returned to the government.

He also indicated there are a “few hundred thousand” left in Title I carryover funds, which are available right now.

Associate Superintendent Dianna Kirk said the school district plans to use the funds to “increase instructional support.”

With the jobs bill money, the school district plans to hire: up to three teachers between Cannon and East Park elementary schools, two teachers at North Ridge and South View middle schools, two victory teachers — one for math and one for English — at Danville High School, three social workers to be used throughout the school district, two school psychologist interns to be used throughout the school district, School Administration Managers (SAMs) for South View and North Ridge middle schools and one teacher mentor to support first-year teachers.

With the Title I carryover funds, the school district plans to hire nine instructional teaching assistants for elementary school support and provide half of the funding for a half-time secretary in the educational support office.

“The bulk of the employment recommendations is to support student achievement,” Denman said.

What’s next

The District 118 School Board will tour the South View Middle School renovations at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Board members will then conduct their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, at the Jackson Building, 516 N. Jackson St.