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KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- The Kirksville School Board unanimously approved a bid to begin the installation of synthetic turf on Spainhower Field.

During the board's meeting on Wednesday, members awarded the base bid to Byrne and Jones to do the field preparations, and the alternate bid to Shaw/Sportexe Legion to install the turf. The grand total for the project is $655,400. 

Byrne and Jones is one of three companies that submitted bids to do the field preps.

Members of the board's Facilities Committee traveled the state to see the different options and settled on Byrne and Jones' proposal, which happened to come in under budget and over $12,000 less than the other two bids.

 "The Shaw grass or turf carpet is a fuller grass, it looks more natural, it's a little bit taller than some of the others, so it'd be good for soccer and football and all the other activities," said Larry Logston, the Kirksville School Board Vice President.

Logston, a member of the Facilities Committee, said they saw the Shaw/Sportexe Legion 46 oz. turf at Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis and were impressed.

The school board has already received a corporate donation from Preferred Family Healthcare for $75,000 over the span of the next three years, and a $50,000 donation from the Kirksville Booster Club to help fund the project. Board members said they are still looking for more sponsorships.  

The school board also approved the details of its transportation contract with Weber Bus Inc. for the 2012-2013 school year. The contract is for a little more than $800,439. It includes a driver hourly wage increase from $11 dollars per hour to $11.50 an hour, and a base increase of $28,938.19.

Other bids approved include:

-$77,500 to CDWG for 152 Lenovo computers and 15 19 inch. LCD Acer monitors. These are to be spread out across the district

-$5,088 to PCMallGov to upgrade the wireless network for Special Education Department

-$13,604 to CDWG  to upgrade the network at Kirksville Primary School and to add wireless to the Special Education Department

-$7,268.80 to PCMallGov to upgrade the district's Microsoft Office software

The board will meet again on May 23 for a work session.