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The Reed City Area Public Schools board of education reviewed the proposals to purchase brand-new equipment for the science and music department at a meeting on Monday, Jan. 23.
Pioneer photo/Olivia Fellows
REED CITY — The Reed City Area Public Schools board of education reviewed the purchase of brand-new equipment for two departments.
At a meeting held Jan. 23, board members approved a bid proposal for both the high school and the middle school band programs and the high school science department
Equipment included in the proposed purchase includes one Ludwig Timpani with polished copper suspended bowl, two Yamaha bass clarinets with cases, three Yamaha Geyer 567 French horns with cases, two Yamaha tubas with cases and two Yamaha four-valve euphoniums with cases.
Superintendent Mike Sweet said the goal is to help the band program grow.
“They're big instruments,” Sweet said. “The bass clarinets are probably the cheapest instruments on that. So they're big instruments that will stay with the district but give students the opportunity to play those families might not be able to afford a large instrument like that as we continue to try to grow the band (program) progress.”
The board also discussed a bid proposal for the high school science department.
The cost of new equipment for upgrades is just over $40,000. The bulk of the cost will reportedly be for more advanced computers, according to Sweet.
“This was transparency to you as a board so that when we're looking at these purchases, we're doing our job and looking at other companies to make sure that that we don't have an outlier as far as a price,” Sweet told the board. “We might have to buy another (virtual) program to be able to operate it to let it run. This is the informational piece so that you can see that we were researching to make sure we were getting a good price on products that we were expanding."
“Most of the items on this list are refurbishing a science lab that is just rundown over the years, and it doesn't have the adequate performance function,” he added. “It gets us started with the science (improvements), let's give our kids experiences in the lab that they need to be successful as they continue.”
The next scheduled board of education regular meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 13.
For more information on the RCAPS board visit www.reedcityschools.org.
