Kids Early Education Zone gets Ovid-Elsie lease; terms not public

Two child care operators now hold leases in Ovid-Elsie Area Schools buildings. What families cannot learn from the district's own records is where they will be, what they are paying, or when the doors open.

At its Aug. 19 regular meeting in the Ovid-Elsie High School student lounge, the Board of Education voted 5-0 to "approve the lease agreement for Kids Early Education Zone as presented," according to minutes posted by the district. In a separate roll call moments earlier, the board voted 5-0 to approve a lease for Ovid-Elsie Little Learners. Both motions were made by trustee Mary Thompson and supported by trustee Sue Greer.

That single sentence is the entire public record of each deal. The minutes do not name the building, the square footage, the rent, the length of the lease, the ages served or a start date, and the lease documents referred to as "presented" were not attached to the posted minutes. Nor do the minutes identify who runs Kids Early Education Zone.

Voting were board President Brooke Wooley and trustees Greer, Thompson, Becky Williams and Kevin Nash. David Huff and Josh Miller were absent. The meeting ran from 6:30 p.m. to 7:40 p.m.

The leases landed on the same night the board picked the two firms that would design and manage its building work. The board voted 4-0 to select The Christman Company for construction management, with Williams abstaining after disclosing a family relationship with a Christman employee "in accordance with legal counsel," the minutes state. It then voted 5-0 to select Kingscott for architecture and engineering. Both selections authorize the superintendent to negotiate contracts, subject to final board approval.

Those picks follow the interviews The Current reported in August, when the facilities committee heard from Clark and Christman on construction management Aug. 10 and from GMB and Kingscott on architecture Aug. 11, both in the high school student lounge. The Current also reported that the board split 4-3 on July 20 to apply to the state's School Bond Qualification and Loan Program, and that an Aug. 5 work session took up enrollment projections and a possible restructuring concept.

Also from the Aug. 19 minutes: the superintendent reported building open houses on Aug. 13, sixth-grade orientation on Aug. 12, and a board workshop with PFM planned "for the near future." The board reviewed proposed changes to its Board Operating Procedure and suggested further edits rather than adopting them.

What happens next

The child care leases are approved and need no further vote. Their terms will become public only when the district releases the signed agreements. The Christman and Kingscott contracts still have to come back to the board for final approval once the superintendent negotiates them, so a dollar figure for the district's building program should surface at a future meeting. This desk is seeking the lease agreements and the names of the operators.