Valencia Elementary will have new fence

The Portales School Board approved a bid to construct a fence around part of Valencia Elementary to protect fourth- and fifth-graders at school.

Western Builders of Amarillo was awarded the contract for $19,880 Thursday during a school board special session. T.N.T. Fence of Savoy, Texas, submitted a bid of $35,000.

“I’m hoping this will be done during the summer,” Portales Superintendent Randy Fowler said.

Fowler said the fence will be 5 to 6 feet high. Fowler said officials with the Public School Facilities Authority are paying for the project.

Fowler informed school board members there will be a planning meeting with LCI2 representatives on a project on Tuesday. During a May 8 school board meeting, the board members awarded window replacement construction work to the Clovis company.

The bid was awarded to LCI2 for $300,000. Wilson and Wilson of Clovis placed a bid of $337,000 to do the work.

Fowler said they received $219,000 in legislative funding to pay for a portion of the work. The remaining $81,000 will be paid from funding from Senate Bill 9. School officials are hopeful the window-replacement work will be completed by the start of the school year.

Also, Wal-Mart store employees in Portales have donated a desktop computer to Portales Junior High School along with 20 reams of copy paper. School board members accepted the donation.

The next school board meeting will take place at 7 p.m. June 12 in the central office.