ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997 TAG: 9704090037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Officials are setting guidelines to ensure that black-owned contractors have every chance to be chosen for school projects.
Responding to criticism from the NAACP, Roanoke school officials will begin asking contractors for school renovation projects to seek bids from businesses owned by blacks or women to help ensure that they have an equal opportunity to bid on work.
If a black or woman subcontractor submits the low bid and is not selected, the general contractor will be required to provide the reason for not accepting the bid.
Superintendent Wayne Harris said Tuesday night that the school division would provide its list of black- and woman-owned businesses to all contractors who request bid documents for the upcoming Woodrow Wilson Middle School renovation and Round Hill Primary addition projects.
When the bids are opened, the contractors will be required to list all bids from subcontractors and identify those owned by blacks and women, he told the School Board.
Harris said the general contractor for the Woodrow Wilson project also would be asked to use recent graduates of the city's technical education and apprenticeship programs. The school division will provide a list of the recent graduates to the contractor.
"Our overall objective is to increase the participation of small businesses in [school] projects," Harris said. "However, the business must demonstrate that its work meets quality and cost-effective standards for which all businesses doing [school] work are held accountable."
Black-owned companies have received fewer than 1 percent of the contracts on school renovation projects during the past decade, according to city school records.
Martin Jeffrey, president of the Roanoke branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has charged that school officials discriminated against blacks in school contracts.
"The numbers show us that something is terribly wrong," Jeffrey said. He has called for an immediate change in the process of awarding contracts.
School officials have denied discrimination, and they said they are trying to help ensure that black-owned businesses have an equal opportunity to get school contracts.
Joseph Cason, construction supervisor for the schools, said most black-owned contractors don't have the financial capability and management experience to undertake multimillion-dollar school projects.
Cason said he would like to see black contractors get more business, but he said they must meet financial, insurance and bonding requirements to assure schools officials they can complete a project.
Cason told the board that the school system is trying to recruit and help small businesses owned by blacks and women.
Some minority- and woman-owned companies were identified last year and hired for small summer projects so school officials could develop a business relationship with them and evaluate their capabilities.
School officials also have held two workshops to help explain the bidding process and provide information on upcoming projects.
"There is a feeling in the minority community that we are trying to bring in a few minority-owned firms to do small projects to take the heat off the school system," said board member Melinda Payne.
Harris said school officials are doing everything they can to ensure that black-owned businesses are treated fairly, but the schools can't give preferential treatment to any group.
In other action:
The board approved the school calendar for the 1997-98 school year. Schools will open Aug. 25, the same opening date that was approved earlier by Roanoke County schools. The city will have two full weeks for winter break and a full week for spring break during the next school year.
The board was told that Harris has been named superintendent of the year for a 15-locality region in Western Virginia. He was cited for his advocacy of rigorous academic standards, the use of technology in instruction and safe schools.
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