JACKSON-MILTON SCHOOLS Board seeks bids making access easier for disabled

It would cost $350,000 to make the entire building handicapped-accessible.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NORTH JACKSON -- Jackson-Milton school officials are taking the first steps toward making the high and middle school building accessible to people with disabilities.
The school board is seeking bids on the installation of chair lifts and an automatic front door in the 90-year-old building, as well as the addition of a larger stall with handrails and a wheelchair-accessible sink in a girls bathroom. Superintendent Buck Palmer said the project will cost $50,000-$75,000, and he expects construction to be complete in six to eight weeks.
Palmer said the district hired an architect to create plans to make the entire building handicapped-accessible. He said the plans show that the project would cost a total of about $350,000.
The district spent $150,000 this summer renovating the building. Palmer said it would not have been cheaper to make the building handicapped-accessible as part of those renovations.
Earlier this month, sixth-grader Felicia Reed and her mother, Ann Reed, filed a lawsuit seeking $250,000 in damages and a court order forcing the district to make the school handicapped-accessible. Felicia has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair most of the time.
What happened
Palmer said school officials had planned on making the building handicapped-accessible before the lawsuit was filed. He said the plans were put on hold, however, when Ann Reed told school officials her family was moving to another state.
Then, two months ago, Reed told officials her family was staying in the district, Palmer said. Felicia has since had to take classes in the elementary school building, which is handicapped-accessible, instead of going to the middle and high school building with her fellow sixth-graders.
The district plans to do the work in phases over several years so that the high school section of the building is handicapped-accessible before Felicia is a freshman.
Atty. David J. Betras, who represents Felicia and her mother, said his clients may drop the lawsuit if the building is made accessible to people with disabilities.
"If that's what they're doing, then we don't have a beef with them. I'm never one that looks for a fight," Betras said.
He added, however, "I'll believe it when I see it."
hill@vindy.com