The Tamaqua Area School District took another step towards its girls locker room renovation project.

At Tuesday evening's monthly board of education meeting Superintendent Carol Makuta said the district met earlier in the day with an architect who is the apparent low bidder for the locker renovation work at the high school."He (the architect) was given a tour of the facilities, so that he could go and draw up the information for us," said Makuta.Business Manager Connie Ligenza said that there were two official bidders on the project. The school board has yet to act on the bids and did not mention the names of the two bidders or their submitted bids."He wanted to do research on entrance and egress, and structural work," said Ligenza, who explained there are some zoning issues, such as engineering fees, that need to be resolved."For a building of that age, we were told it was cosmetically great, but it is faced with interesting challenges," said Makuta.The girls locker rooms are located on the first floor of the high school, between the gym and natatorium.In other business, the board expelled a high school student for one calendar year, based on the recommendation of its hearing committee. The student, who was not named, was expelled for an unspecified violation of the district's disciplinary code, confirmed Makuta.The board also ratified Makuta's approval for homebound instruction for six students.Chinese dance troupeThe board approved the request of Bernadette Griffiths, Tamaqua, to host a Chinese dance troupe.The troupe, Colorful China, will perform on Thursday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in the district's auditorium. The performance is free and open to the public.The group is being presented by the Chinese National Museum of Ethnology and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Washington, D.C., together with World Artists Experiences (WAE).The board agreed to waive rental fees for the performance.Dental vanThe board followed through on the recommendations of Makuta and its finance committee to enter into an agreement with Blue Mountain Health Systems for its "Healthy Smiles, Happy Kids Dental Van", effective retroactive to July 1 and ending on June 30, 2011.The request of cross country coaches Thomas Kanger and Michael Sakash, to attend the annual Track and Cross Country Coaches Clinic in Atlantic City, N.J., on Dec. 16-17 was approved.The district entered into a letter of linkage with Behavioral Health Outpatient Clinic, New Beginnings, to establish a referral relationship between agencies for the current school year.The board also held a closed executive session lasting one hour, 31 minutes to discuss legal matters.