Bond Home

CONSTRUCTION/EXISTING FACILITIES:

Will the students be able to play baseball in June and July at KHS?
Yes

Will there be equal seating at KHS and THS at the ballfields?
There will be equal seating with added 500 seats.

When will the attendance zone for the schools opening in Aug. 2008 be established?
October, November, December 2007

What is going to happen to the old MCHS pool?
The pool itself will be demolished and filled in but the building structure will remain.

What are the plans regarding the second floor shell at the Miller Career & Technology Center?
Will do basic design and then take it to the Board for review and approval.

What is the sequence and accountability process for construction?

1. Design approved by Board
2. Construction proposal approved by Board
3. Construction begins

Do the high school tracks have a longer warranty?
Yes, 5 years

Does the track resurfacing include any junior highs?
Not now.

Would KISD be willing to sell the water wells and treatment plant to the local MUD?
This possibility apparently was investigated many years ago. Although it seems like a viable idea on the surface, it would take several millions of district dollars to connect and subsequently pay the local MUD to expand its facilities. After such a transfer, the district would have to pay for water and sewer service. The district is actually saving considerable dollars by operating our water wells and the water treatment plant.  Compare the costs from McDonald Junior High School and Golbow Elementary: $5.23 per 1,000 gallons vs. $.75 we expend at the Mayde Creek Complex. At this time the wells and treatment plant are financially economical for the district to maintain.

If Katy ISD wants to, keep water treatment and sell reusable water (affluent) to Pine forest Country Club and Bear Creek Golf Course?
This would require the district to run several miles of reusable water lines to the locations specified along with pumping stations.  Acquiring easements and approval for pumping additional water from our site along with associated billings would be an enormous task.  We also believe the volume of reusable water and subsequent income would not be sufficient to offset the expenses involved.

There is a rumor in the community that not all of the $1,261,000 approved for the renovation of the Katy High School baseball facility will be allocated to the project.  Please advise if this is correct.
At this time, the budget for the Katy High School baseball facility is the entire $1,261,000.

Regarding KHS Pool Pac AHU replacement, what is the start to finish time?  Is there any pool use permitted or possible during project?  Will temperature and humidity be as controllable as before?  What are operating specs?

Delivery of the AHU is expected to take twelve weeks.  Actual installation time will take no longer than fourteen days maximum.  The pool will be closed during the construction period.  Yes, in fact we will have equal or better control of the humidity.  Operating specifications are:

• The water temperature will be controlled at 81-82 degrees.

• Space air temperature will be set at 79 degrees.

• The humidity control will be at 55-60%.

I am on the Wolfe Elementary CAT team, and from what I understand, the roof is in such bad condition that repair (replacement) can’t wait until 2009.  There is the possibility that I am misinformed.  Please clarify. 
Within the $269 Million Bond Authorization there were seven roofing projects recommended and approved. District employees and our roofing consultant prioritized each of the roofs for replacement. The roofs scheduled for replacement in 2008 and 2009 can remain serviceable until they are replaced with some repairs. Should we bid all the roofs at one time, we will flood the market and we will pay a premium. In addition, we will have to award some contracts to roofing companies with which we have no previous experience, companies from outside the area causing warranty issues, or a less than desirable company. We feel working with about three to four companies at a time is manageable, tough, but manageable. Currently we are maintaining the Wolfe Elementary roof and others until 2009.

In addition, should we attempt to re-roof all the identified campuses in one year, they will all reach the end of their useful life in approximately 20 years setting up a situation where the district will incur large expenses in a single year to re-roof all of them at approximately the same time.   The District’s practice is to take a long-range approach to major maintenance by installing quality products and planning carefully for the future, including future financial obligations. 

For MPE, the wish list was for $500,000, which included reconfiguring office, clinic, conference rooms and secure entry.  The bond committee reduced by half and proposed the secure entrance but not the office reconfiguration.  Is this proposal being followed?  Please give detailed breakdown how much is being spent and on what items. 
Funding that was recommended for Memorial Parkway Elementary will allow for the reconfiguration of administrative office area for visual control of the building entrance and provide for an automatic door opener.  This scope of work will provide for additional security for front entry traffic.  The portion that was not recommended would have provided funding for administrative office space and clinic reconfiguration. 

Is there a problem with building the new Junior High #11 right behind “Incentives?”  Will Incentive kids attend the new junior high?  Will you communicate this to parents?
The Incentives facility has their own perimeter fencing. Only students who are zoned to the attendance zone of this new junior high will attend this new JH#11.

How was KISD able to get a contract to build the Morton Ranch HS Ninth Grade Center for $1.9M under the bond allocation?
KISD did not “get” a contract to build the Morton Ranch HS 9^th Grade Center – Competitive Sealed Proposals were accepted determining the contract amount.

What is a Parent Center campus?
Parent Centers for the parents of immigrant and LEP students have been established at Hutsell, King, Mayde Creek, Schmalz and Sundown Elementary schools and Katy Junior High.  At these centers, parents learn how to speak, read and write English, as well as learn about the American education system and how to support their child’s education.  The parents are encouraged to volunteer and mentor at the campus level.

What is the difference in the role for the architect on new design vs. a repeated design given their costs are a fixed percentage of construction costs?
With a repeat design, the building prototype itself may remain the same with some minor modifications but the site  plan for each building changes requiring the services of the architect.

What percent of new construction projects final costs exceeded the estimated cost at the time of bond approval over the last five years?
Over the past five years, only four new construction projects exceeded the estimated cost at the time of the bond approval.

PORTABLES:

May we have a list of where the portables are and how many are at each campus?

TECHNOLOGY:

Has Raptor created any staff time issues on the campuses?
After meeting with principals, we have been assured that this is not an issue.

With Raptor, when one checks out of school, they must turn in badges. What if a visitor fails to check out properly? In other words, at the end of the day if a parent has not checked out, what is the procedure in locating them?
The system automatically logs visitors out at 5 p.m. each day. Campuses can look to see who has not logged out at the end of each particular day and can flag that visitor. The next visit, the visitor will be asked to check out at the front office. If this becomes a problem with a particular visitor, then the administration will speak with the visitor.

How much is budgeted for materials per year per school for Raptor?
Each campus is different. The number of visitors will vary from campus to campus. The reports retrieved from our spring 2007 semester will allow each campus principal to budget accordingly.

With the Raptor system, visitors’ IDs are scanned, then the next visit the visitor does not have to scan ID again, correct? If this is correct, what happens when a person commits a crime? How are you going to detect and stop this person?  
The system checks the person against the Registered Sex Offender database every time they are scanned and on every subsequent visit which we call a “quick find.”

The presentation says this was for a network solution. I thought we approved for an application bridge package. What am I missing?
Distance Learning is delivered and received via the KISD network therefore the solution is network based. The components of the project include an upgrade to our bridge, as well as new classroom equipment.

With regard to Raptor, you said you scan in the 1st time and then if the parent already scanned, then the KISD employee just enters name verifying that I am not using someone else’s name? Do they use photo to match? Have to give ID verbally?
A visitor who has already visited the campus and has been scanned, will continue to present their I.D. on subsequent visits. We have to verify the visitor’s identification every time. This also makes it easier for the campus to understand and spell first or last names in the “quick find."

How will you handle the first day of school with the Raptor system? It seems this would greatly slow things down.
The first days of school have been identified so that parents can walk the elementary aged children to their classroom. Parents will be allowed access to the hallways the first days of school without a Raptor badge. This will be allowed in the morning between 7:45 – 8:15. If the parent comes back for lunch on the first day of school, they will be scanned.

Is the Raptor system tied into the mainframe, or is it a stand alone system?
The system’s database resides at the company, Raptor Technologies. They are they responsible for maintaining it. Katy ISD connects to their database via a website.

Where is the money coming from to pay for the stickers for Raptor?
Bond funds purchased the initial allotment of stickers for each campus. Subsequent purchases will be paid out of the campus operating funds. Campuses were currently ordering various colored stickers with campus name and logo. The campus will no longer order those stickers. The campus will order the stickers that go with the Visitor Tracking System. The Katy ISD Warehouse is ordering those stickers in bulk and passing those cost savings onto the campuses.

If Raptor is eventually going to be used to count volunteer hours, what kind of access will volunteer coordinators (who are volunteers) have to this information?
That will be determined after we learn more about how the system records the information and what reports the Katy ISD volunteers need.

Is the installation of cameras being coordinated with campus construction projects so that cameras don’t need to be “re-installed” at a later date?
Yes, we coordinate with the construction and Maintenance Departments.

What other school districts were observed for the Raptor system?
Cy-Fair ISD, Houston ISD, Spring-Branch ISD, and Montgomery ISD.

What does the district do with retired computing equipment?
Award a contract to an environmentally friendly computer disposal company.

Vista & Office upgrades will have significant hardware requirement upgrades. Are the PCs we are upgrading this year be specified to handle future O/S upgrade?
Yes, all Desktop and Laptop hardware purchased starting Summer 2006 have been specified to handle Vista with no additional hardware upgrades.

What is the goal for hardware cycle time?
The desktop and laptops purchased from this bond will be on a six year life cycle replacement schedule.

Is the goal to group schools together on upgrade cycle?
We have had in place for three years a defined yearly replacement cycle grouping campuses together based on the age of their computer fleet.

Is it reasonable to expect a need to migrate to Vista and Office within the next two years? Are software and implementation costs contemplated in the last bond allocation?
We will be installing Office 2007 on all desktops this summer. The primary issue with migrating to Vista is with application compatibility. While our primary applications such as Office, Adobe, etc will transfer will little or no problems, there are many educational software titles that will have to be updated by their respective vendors before they can run on Vista. We do not anticipate piloting Vista on a campus level until summer 08 at the earliest.

COMMUNICATIONS:

Will we ever be able to do a district-wide “broadcast?”
KISD has a number of avenues from which to deliver communication district wide.  We can use email, phone and websites. The type of content delivered can be text, audio, video or audio/video.

In our school there is a TV in the lobby that shows a science related power point.  Why not use it for parent info since that is who sees it most?
Each school is responsible for programming its lobby monitors, marquees and other information-related “tools.”  Most lobby monitors have scrolling presentations that include news and announcements that are of interest to parents.  The Communications Department is going to create bond project update PowerPoint slides for schools, along with signs, posters information for eNews and newsletters, all of which are designed to help parents get updates on bond-related projects at their campuses.

BUSES:

What is the rider usage of our buses? Percentage of bus capacity?
The number of bus riders varies, depending if the students are in elementary, junior high or high school and whether regular ed or special ed.  For our regular ed buses, we generally target an average of three elementary students per bus seat, 2.5 junior high students per seat and two high school students per seat.  For a conventional school bus, this equates to 71 elementary students, 59 junior high students, and 47 high school students. For a large, “transit-style” buses, this equates to 83 elementary students, 69 junior high students and 55 high school students. 

The manufacturer’s rated seating capacity is based on three students per seat, or 71 students on a conventional bus and 83 students for most of our transit buses.  While we generally attain the rated capacity for elementary students, as a practical matter this cannot be accomplished for the secondary students due to their larger size.

For our special ed buses, the number of riders is significantly less than the manufacturer’s rated capacity of 47 students, which is based on three students per seat and no wheelchair riders.

FINANCE:
 
What is the realization of savings if we refund right now?
If the bonds are refunded at the same interest rates we received for the $65 million sale, our total savings would be approximately $14 million. Because the savings are realized over several years and considering inflation, etc., the $14 million in savings would be worth approximately $10 million in “today’s” (present value) dollars. Internal Revenue Service regulations prevent us from refunding the bonds within 15 days of the new money $65 million sale without incurring certain restrictions on future refundings. Our financial advisors do not expect any major changes in the interest rate environment before March 20, the date the bonds will be priced.