Work to restore Austin’s Paulson Tennis Courts is moving forward.

The Austin School Board on Monday granted a low bid of $129,351 for the restoration of two courts at Paulson Tennis Courts, submitted by Ulland Bros. of Austin.

The only other bid was submitted by JD Driver of Rose Creek for $178,000.

The courts, located on the east end of an eight-court complex, will be replaced, while the remainder will be resurfaced.

The east courts have suffered a drop in elevation, according to Mark Stotts, executive director of Finance and Operations, requiring the replacement.

The total bid includes a base bid of $112,711, as well as an alternate of $16,640, which is for a drinking fountain, Stotts said.

Other alternates — sidewalk ($15,000), electrical work ($4,000), batter board ($8,000) and sodding ($9,000) — were not included in the project. The acceptance came upon the recommendation of Director of Facility Services Mat Miller.

Restoration and resurfacing of the courts, with the installation of the drinking fountain, have been part of the long-range capital improvement plan for the courts.

Stotts said the work is scheduled to be done before the start of next school year.

In other business:

—Probationary: The board agreed to release seven probationary teachers from their duties. Six of the seven are full-time instructors.

They are Kristen Bambrick, an Early Childhood teacher; Stephanie Emke and Katie Nagel, both first grade teachers; special education instructors Stefan Vilcins, Rachel Studley and Erin Whalen, and intervention teacher Robin Witham, who is part-time.

Superintendent of Schools Dave Krenz made sure that the board understood that the reasons for releasing the instructors may have had nothing to do with performance. Changes in licensing requirements by the state of Minnesota could have changed, forcing the district to let teachers go who now do not have the certification needed; or instructors who were teaching in some areas, while licensed, did not meet their career goals.

“It could be a lot of different things,” Krenz said.

—Health care: The board agreed to the 12.5 percent increase to the district’s health insurance, provided by Comprehensive Care Services, a division of Blue Cross-Blue Shield. While a typical rate increase is about 5 percent, said Stotts, the district, which is self-insured, was happy with the result.

—New contracts: The board agreed to hire certified staff for the upcoming school year: Charles Box, teacher, I. J. Holton; Virginia Campbell, teacher, high school; Jessica Dammen, teacher, Sumner; Amy Dunning, teacher, I. J. Holton; Caitlin Haugland, teacher, teacher, Sumner; Melissa Korfhage, teacher, I. J. Holton; Leslie Leffers, teacher, high school; Cassandra Schrieber, psychologist, high school; David Wolff, teacher, I. J. Holton; Paul Ziems, teacher, high school.