Old Red renovation committee forming
Trinity Standard , July 2007

TRINITY – Plans to renovate the interior of the Old Red Schoolhouse in Trinity will be formulated by a special committee now being formed by the Trinity Independent School District.

During Monday night’s meeting of the TISD board, Superintendent Dr. Bobby Rice announced the creation of the committee and asked three of the board members to serve on the panel.

Additional members from the public will be invited to participate in coming weeks.

Rice indicated the committee’s task would be to decide what changes would be needed to the building’s interior in order to house the district’s administrative offices.

The school has obtained a grant to draw up plans for the project and when those plans are completed, they will seek additional funding to renovate Old Red.

“Right now there is only a single restroom on the ground floor,” Rice said. “We will need a men’s and women’s restroom downstairs and upstairs but we need people familiar with the building to decide where they are going to be located.”

Rice added that to meet federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, any major renovation also would require that an elevator be added to the structure.

In establishing the committee, Rice asked Board President Dorothy Franklin to serve as well as board members Debbie Quan and Steve Tyler. Both Quan and Tyler were involved with earlier efforts to save Old Red for the wrecking ball and to have its exterior restored to its original appearance.

The oldest school structure still standing in Trinity, Old Red was built starting in 1911 and was finished in 1915. It housed all Trinity grades until 1928 when the adjacent high school was completed.

The two-story structure earned its name from its distinctive red brick design and was used by the district for over 80 years.

When it was scheduled for demolition in the early 1990s, a group of local residents banded together to save the structure and raised money to pay for the restoration of the exterior.

Dan “Bubba” Barnes and Ray Smith were the primary volunteers who performed much of the restoration work. Smith also worked to restore much of the interior and the second floor auditorium in the old structure has been named in his honor.

Other business
During the meeting, the board also:
• Learned from Elementary Principal Ray Morrow that an inmate crew from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice would be working over the summer to paint the classrooms and hallways at the school
• Scheduled budget workshops on July 16, Aug. 13 and Aug. 20. The workshops will start at 6 p.m. and the board plans to complete work on the 2007-08 budget in time for it to be adopted at their regular meeting on Aug. 27.
• Approved the purchase of two 77-passenger International buses from Longhorn Bus Sales at a cost of $173,582. Although the bid on the buses was not the lowest, Rice recommended the selection of Longhorn Bus Sales in order to obtain the International models. He noted that most of the rest of the TISD bus fleet are Internationals and it would be cheaper in the long run not to have to stock parts from other manufacturers.
• Voted to advertise for sealed bids on the sale of two portable classroom buildings now located next to the elementary school gym.
• Accepted the bid of $16,397.50 from Brazos Valley Insurance Group to provide student/athletic insurance for the coming school year.
• Accepted bids from Foremost Co. to provide milk and juice and accepted bids from Ben K. Keith Co. and William George Co. to provide groceries during the coming year. The board also agreed to seek new bids on the purchase of bread products.
• Approved both the employee and student handbooks for the 2007-08 school year.
Among the changes in the student handbook is the formalization of a policy requiring background checks for all volunteers working on school campuses. “We’ve already being doing this, but we decided it needed to be a part of the handbook.
Other changes would allow pre-kindergarten through 8th grade students to wear shorts. The wearing of shorts at the high school would be left to the discretion of the principal. Flip flops and open toed shoes also will no longer be allowed.
• Nominated Greg Peak of the Trinity Standard for the Media Honor Roll.