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Save the date: The Lab School’s formal opening will be July 28, 2007. We hope you will plan to attend. Details will be sent out in early April and arrangements will be made for a group trip for those from the United States interested in participating in this exciting event.
Summary:
- As of February 1, construction was nearly 70% complete, with the entire complex visibly taking shape and the roof beginning to be installed. Even so, construction is still behind schedule primarily because of ongoing labor shortages. March 25 has been set for completion.
- School will open when students start classes on the first day of the academic year, July 17, 2007. The formal opening is slated for July 28.
- The Bank of Indonesia Tsunami Relief Fund has provided a grant to cover the costs of basic furniture and equipment. Orders will be placed in mid-March for delivery by May 15.
- The principal and vice principal returned from their successful training program at the University of Missouri-St Louis and are actively working with an ad hoc committee from the FKIP (Faculty of Education and Teaching) to start teacher recruitment by February 15, with teachers to start work May 1, and student selection to take place in May and June. Teacher training will take place in May.
- Paperwork is underway to exempt the project from the 10% VAT on construction and furniture purchases.
- Documents for the Yayasan (foundation) to administer the school have been approved. Board members have been identified and the legal papers are to be filed this month.
- In planning for the school’s long-term sustainability, UNSYIAH and other stakeholders have formulated a full financial package for teachers to obviate outside employment; grants are being sought to fulfill that need. Plans are being developed for five-year funding for a Lab School pilot project for educational innovation to fit within the new Aceh Five Year Educational Plan.
1. Work is progressing, somewhat slowed by continuing heavy rains through January. Labor remains an issue, both in its overall availability and because many laborers returned home who came from parts of eastern Aceh inundated by floods. Nonetheless, the pace of construction has stepped up. The contractor has been notified in writing that construction is to be complete on or about March 25. No further slippage in progress beyond April 1 will be accepted without penalty.
- All external walls are finished and most roof trusses are in place; roof installation began February 1.
- External plaster is nearly complete and ground floor level stone facing is being installed.
- Electrical conduits are being installed, thus allowing internal plastering. With the roofing going on, gypsum ceilings can be installed.
- One classroom and the exterior corridor are complete as a template for standards.
- Construction of covered walkways connecting individual buildings has begun.
- Clearing and removing debris in the complex is underway.
- The walls enclosing the complex are nearly complete.
- The project architect oversees the site full-time and is rigorous in his insistence on high quality finish.
2.The Quality and Quantity Assurance Engineers who monitor the project visited the site separately in January and early February. They found the basic construction to be well done and the finish work progressing nicely.
3.The fourth payment of the contract (Rp. 2,235,490,909.05) and monitoring fee to the design team (Rp. 77,571,535.00) were paid in late January.
4. The final contract reconciliation was undertaken by a team comprised of the UNSYIAH project supervisor, the USINDO project coordinator, the quality assurance engineer and the Sampoerna Foundation project officer. Taking into account savings from in-kind donations, modifications required for safety purposes, and the deletion of the watchman's house and gazebos, a package of variations was agreed. The additional cost, Rp.224,101,558 or US$24,000, will be prorated over the remaining contract payments; it is an increase of less than 4%—well below normal for contract overruns on a project of this type. A new payment schedule is currently being calculated.
5. Based on research and visits to furniture producers, it is practical to purchase furniture in Jakarta. Orders will be placed in mid-March once the list of requirements has been further refined. Procurement will be made according to the terms of the grant to be received from Bank of Indonesia's Tsunami Relief Fund of approximately $120,000. Basic furniture will be in place before the school opens.
6. A range of in-kind donations and requests are in process:
- A grant from the Freeman Foundation, through the Sampoerna Foundation, for library books.
- Donations of toilets and basins from American Standard Indonesia have been received.
- Donations of light fixtures from GE have been received and further discussion is underway regarding more light fixtures and a water purifier.
- An in-kind donation of a generator has been requested.
- IBM Indonesia, which has already agreed to donate 45 computers, has also proposed adding a science information center to the library. IBM is also facilitating the search for printers. Cisco Systems Indonesia will donate the wiring for a school-wide IT network. Discussions continue with USAID's DBE2 project on educational training and management and the UNSYIAH Multimedia Center about internet connectivity.
7. Resolution appears to be closer on issues pertaining to the 10% VAT on construction and purchases, a problem not unique to the Lab School, but also of great concern for all reconstruction projects in Aceh.
- On the advice of BRR, two VAT payments were made; BRR then approved and forwarded the request for restitution, amounting to approximately $44,000.
- Jakarta tax authorities, however, are unable to process the refunds pending parliamentary (DPR) action on tax law changes.
- BRR consequently has sought a ministerial ruling on relief from further VAT payments and filed a new set of papers on all NGOs; no further payments will be made on the construction and equipment.
- To ensure an adequate cash flow without slowing up construction, payments of supervisory fees and management overhead are being stretched out by mutual agreement.
8.A school management plan budgeting pre-opening costs and the first year of operation are being modified and refined by the principal, vice principal and an ad hoc committee of experts from the FKIP.
9.Standards for prospective teachers are being developed. Many teachers will be required to teach more than one subject and do team curriculum planning to integrate subjects, both innovations for Indonesia. Teacher recruitment is planned for mid-February. A financial package, including standard base pay, and a teaching (or administrative) grant to provide a living wage, has been agreed upon. Funding for an endowment to support the additional compensation above normal state salaries is being sought. Teachers will be required to work full time and not take on outside employment and to pass the new teacher certification test. May will be dedicated to teacher training and planning, June to student selection. Jakarta International School (JIS) has promised specialized training for the librarians, the school plant manager and the school financial officer.
10.Student selection (90 students for three sections of Class 1 or 10th grade) will begin in May. One third of the students are to be provided three-year scholarships by the Sampoerna Foundation on the basis of need. About two thirds of the students will be drawn from the four middle schools in the surrounding area, much of which was devastated by the tsunami. Per capita student payments to the school from the department of education (additional to school fees from each student) will not be received until next year.
11.The draft document for the Yayasan to manage the Lab School was reviewed and modified by USINDO's attorney in Jakarta. Key stakeholders—UNSYIAH, USINDO, JIS, Sampoerna Foundation and the local departments of education—finalized the foundation charter and identified board members. The founding document is to be filed this month and the first formal meeting of the Yayasan committees will be held soon thereafter.
12.Ensuring that the school attracts and maintains the highest quality teachers is key to its long-term sustainability. A substantial five-year grant for the Lab School as a pilot project for educational innovation in Aceh is under development by UNSYIAH, the Yayasan and major stakeholders.
13. The project coordinator was in Indonesia on January 7-29. Recent visits included teams from the Bank Indonesia, Danamon Peduli and Boeing. Donors are encouraged to visit the lab school site and should make arrangements by email (danmargsullivan@earthlink.net). USINDO’s president will visit in late February, and the project coordinator will return for all of March. Future visits in May and for the opening in July are being planned.
Institutional: Newmont Mining Corp.; AIG Disaster Relief Fund; Do Something, Inc.; Danamon Peduli, the foundation of Bank Danamon, Jakarta; JIS Cares (Jakarta International School); ExxonMobil Foundation; Boeing Corp. through United Way International ; IBM Indonesia; Credit Renaissance; GE, American Standard Indonesia, The American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia; Greenville and Seely Place Elementary Schools, Scarsdale, NY.
Individuals: Julian and Ruth Schroeder, Chapman Taylor and the Taylor Family, David and Helen Kenney.
In kind donation of land: Syiah Kuala University
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