New playground equipment purchased for GE, GNA

Students at Gonzales Elementary and Gonzales North Avenue schools will have new playground equipment to enjoy after the Gonzales ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday, April 14 to purchase equipment from the KYA Group.

The cost of the new equipment is expected to be $538,383, which includes a $40,000 contingency, and the entire project is being paid for through the proceeds of the district’s 2023 bond election and issuance.

Casey Sledge of Sledge Engineering/ESC 13 said the work is expected to begin in June 2025 and be completed in August 2025 in time for students to begin the 2025-26 school year.

At Gonzales Elementary, the cost will be $278,602 and will include demolishing select old equipment, including the “dino” and the playground on the south side and removal of pea gravel. The new playground unit will be built over newly engineered wood fiber fall protection and will include a new Gaga ball pit, basketball goals, a new coating on the basketball court and a new shade structure. On the west side, new swings will be added and other smaller play equipment.

At North Avenue, the cost will be $219,781 and will include removing the south side portable and concrete blocks as well as two of the four chain-link backstops and the broken section of the basketball court.

The south end will get new playground equipment with the new engineered wood fiber fall protection, new basketball goals, two new soccer goals, a new Gaga ball pit, a repaired basketball court with a new surface coating and new shade structures, an agility bridge and ADA benches. There won’t be new equipment on the north side, but a new shade structure will be erected.

In other action, the board voted 7-0 to approve an interlocal cooperation agreement with the Nixon-Smiley Consolidated ISD for the cooperative Disciplinary Alternative Education Program campus, or DAEP that Nixon-Smiley operates.

Gonzales ISD is looking to start its own DAEP beginning at the start of the 2026-27 school year, so 2025-26 will be the last cooperative contract the district will sign, Acting Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer Amanda Smith said.

“As you know, renovations for the buildings on the west side of this campus (GISD Administration) are scheduled to begin this year for an in-house DAEP program that was approved with our 2023 bond,” Smith said. “Those renovations are anticipated to be complete next summer for the 2026-27 school year. Assuming construction stays on schedule, then we will be able to bring this program in-house.”

Smith said the annual cost paid to Nixon-Smiley CISD is $119,042, which covers 2,848 student days, with a cost of $55 per student per day for any overage beyond those 2,848 days.

Gonzales ISD also pays transportation cost to bus students to and from Nixon-Smiley, though that amount is offset some by Waelder ISD paying Gonzales ISD for transporting its students as well (Waelder ISD pays $40 per student per day to GISD, which comes out to about $5,000 per year). Smith said GISD’s total cost ends up being close to $250,000 per year in payments to N-SCISD for the DAEP cooperative.

“We’ve spoken with their administration and they are aware that we plan to bring our services in-house, so this won’t be a surprise to them,” Smith said.

Other approvals during the meeting included the following:

• Approved a resolution extending the depository contract with Sage Capital Bank for ISD funds by two years to Aug. 31, 2027, by a 5-0 vote with two abstentions (President Ross Hendershot III and Trustee Naomi Brown both work for the bank). The bank does not charge the district any fees for having an account.

• Approved naming new GISD Superintendent Dr. Dana Arreola, who started work Tuesday, April 15, as a representative for the Lone Star Investment Pool.

• Approved the Gonzales ISD House Bill 3 Board Goals for Literacy, Math, and College Career Military Readiness (CCMR).

• Approved and signed the Gonzales ISD Certification of Provision of Instructional Materials.