Plans to install protective window film across several Putnam County Schools have been temporarily delayed after the school board rejected all submitted bids.
Deputy Director of Schools Tim Martin said bids came in over budget. Martin said the high bids caught the school board off guard.
“Basically, it’s budget-induced,” Martin said. “We did some security film work two years ago. When we got these bids back, the prices were more than double what we paid two years ago. We did expect some inflation, but we did not expect that much inflation.”
Martin said the lowest bid by a qualified bidder was $28 a square foot. Martin said the school district plans to revisit the project after reassessing available funding and priorities.
“We will eventually re-bid it,” Martin said. “We’ll have to do some other planning from our security grants that we receive and reprioritize some budget money, and then we’ll go back through the bid process again.”
Martin said funding remains the top hurdle in the project. Martin said that enhancing building security remains a top priority moving forward.
“Student safety is our number one, and teacher safety is our number one priority,” Martin said. “We have lots of different layers of security in our schools, and this would just be one additional layer.”
Martin said that the schools without film are still complying with state law, as they were built before the law was established. Martin said the Early Learning Academy will have protective window film, but that cost is included in the budget for that separate project.
Martin said the project is expected to move forward in the future once funding and planning are aligned.