The Natrona County School Board will meet this evening to discuss accepting a maximum price bid for Cottonwood Elementary School from Haselden Construction.

Haselden Construction's maximum bid price is $14,575,513 includes two previous bid packages that the school board already approved on Sept. 24, and Nov. 12.

Cottonwood Elementary School is being built on the site of the old McKinley School, which was demolished. Students from McKinley School were merged with students from the Westood campus into a school initially called McKinley-Westwood, then Cottonwood Elementary.

The board will also decide on accepting a donation for Midwest School from The Industrial Company. TIC is donating a 1997 Ford F-250 truck to the school's Future Farmers of America and agriculture programs.

In the work session, board members will hear an update on the School Facilities Commission from Ken Daraie, director of the commission and a former Natrona County School Board member.

At the last meeting, the board heard from school district substitutes who shared concerns about the district's substitute program. Concerns included the daily rate of pay, lack of appreciation and respect and lack of compensation for extra hours. The comments were referred to the Human Resources Committee for review.

The board also heard from the Youth Empowerment Council, a group of local middle and high school students dedicated to making their communities better places. The council joined Safe Schools Administrator Wayne Beatty in discussing the results of the district's 2006-2007 Natrona County Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

The regular session of the meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the district's central services office, located at 970 N. Glenn Rd.

Reach Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at Jasa.Santos@trib.com.