Putnam Education Officials To Select Firms For New School

Ten architectural firms have submitted qualifications for designing Cookeville’s newest school.

Superintendent Jerry Boyd said the school board will now decide how to move forward with selecting a firm.

“My question to them, and what they will have to decide and direct me to do, is do they want to interview all ten or do they want to reduce it down to a number that’s less than 10?”  Boyd said. “From there, I’ll set up interviews with the board and the firms they want to interview.”

The school board decided Thursday to select three or four finalists during the June 27 meeting. Interviews with those firms will take place during a special-called meeting July 16.

School Board Attorney Dan Rader will begin drafting a contract once the board has selected a firm. Rader said Thursday the contract will be extremely important when working with the firm.

“We had some issues over the last four or five schools that we’ve built where architects didn’t respond exactly how several members of the board thought they should,” Rader said. “I’ve tried to address those in this changed contract [proposal] and I’ll certainly add anything anybody wants to bring to my attention.”

Board members plan to vote on the contract during the August 1 meeting.

The school system plans to build the school on a 45-acre tract of land on Lee Seminary Road. school board members have not yet decided if the facility will be designed as a K-4 or K-8 school.