New Haven Independent

The racks will cost $2,154 each, according to documents provided by the committee.

To committee Chair Michael Nast, that sounded like a lot for a bike rack.

The price includes the purchase and delivery of the galvanized steel rack, a 13 Loop Challenger from the Wisconsin-based MadRax company, as well as installation. Installation involves drilling holes 14 inches deep into the concrete and securing the several legs of each rack. The rack holds up to 15 bikes.

The contractor selected for the work at Clinton and the other schools is Richards Corporation of Terryville, Connecticut.

The other schools receiving the latest group of racks will be John Martinez, Truman, Clarence Rogers, and Hill Regional, which will receive two. The installation, slated for this spring, is pending the choice of a location at each building.

That decision on location will be made in collaboration with the principal, the fire marshal, and AFB Facilities Management, the successor company to Aramark, which is managing school buildings and grounds, said Sue Weisselberg, the coordinator of school construction.

On whichever side of the school Clinton’s bike rack is installed, it will be convenient to one of the newest and best bike lanes in the city.

The funding for the racks, said Weisselberg, was found in the capital school construction accounts of each school. That means the state is paying, as it does for the lion’s share of all municipal school construction.

When the school construction program began, Weisselberg added, “including bike racks in the planning wasn’t part of the thinking. However, in the last decade, we began a commitment to make sure that every school will have at least one.”

Naturally, the racks at the high schools, Hillhouse and Cross, receive the most use, said Weisselberg. “But I feel that the kids of any age, the staff, the entire community should use them. Even when school’s closed, they’re there for someone to park their bike on the way, for example, to a nearby playing field. “

The total cost for the six racks, $12,924, technically did not require the approval of the committee, nor will the full board have to approve. Purchases under $20,000, said the BOE’s chief operating officer Will Clark (pictured with Weisselberg), are at the discretion of the superintendent.

Weisselberg said she is working with representatives from Elm City Cycling to survey the schools’ bike rack needs, and to explore funding possibilities for the remaining schools in the system that are rack-less.

Those are Sound School, Katherine Brennan, Conte West Hills, Fair Haven Middle, King Robinson, and Lincoln Bassett, whose capital construction accounts are bare, at least for bike racks.

Weisselberg said that anyone who knows where there might be a grant available or an interested angel to provide bike racks at one or more of these schools should call her at 946-6811.