At its regular Feb. 17 meeting, MISD trustees approved to utilize the empty space at the district’s career and technical education center, known as The Den, for a new faculty office space. The move stems from the aging and deteriorating state of the Education Support Center and the desire for its faculty to work in better conditions.
Why now?
As it currently stands, the ESC does not have the proper working conditions to host its faculty. Superintendent Mark Ruffin said at the regular Feb. 17 board meeting that the ESC building is “aging and has significant structural concerns.” Some of these structural concerns include cracked bricks, drywall separations and sinking ceiling tiles, Ruffin said.
To address these concerns, the MISD board voted on $3.2 million as the guaranteed maximum price—$2.2 million less than the approved $5.4 million in 2022 bond funds set aside to repair the ESC. The office space is planned to be flexible, able to convert to instructional classrooms or student spaces as CTE programs grow, according to meeting documents.
MISD’s Long Range Planning Committee reviewed the state of the ESC and made the recommendation to temporarily relocate ESC staff to the CTE center, “which would help preserve flexibility for future decisions about the ESC site.”
Diving in deeper
The construction is set to begin in the summer in order to minimize student disruption, according to a Feb. 17 news release.
“This relocation addresses immediate concerns at the ESC in a cost-effective way and provides flexibility for future growth of our facilities and programs,” said board President Eddie Winn.