August 25, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Although the Board of Education has not yet reached a consensus on a specific school building construction plan to recommend to the county commission it may be getting closer.
During an informal workshop last Tuesday night, the School Board and Director of Schools Patrick Cripps focused primarily on two options:
*Building a new pre-k to 5th grade elementary school and adding on to Northside Elementary to make it a pre-K to 5th grade school, or
*Building two new pre-k to 8th grade elementary schools and adding on to Northside Elementary to make it a pre-K to 8th grade school.
Director Cripps asked each member of the Board to submit to him written pros and cons of each option for review at another meeting. The board could settle on either option, submit both proposals, or come up with another alternative for the county commission to consider.
“We are trying to get something before the next school board meeting as far as the plans so we can further our discussions,” said Director Cripps.
Last fall Upland Design Group, the board’s architect, presented six options for consideration but narrowed them down to three by April at the Board’s request.
According to Cripps the last available numbers from April showed estimated costs for the pre-k to 8 building project would run in excess of $30 million as opposed to $18 million for the pre-k to 5th grade plan. Neither option includes the cost of land purchase. Cripps said he has contacted Upland Design to provide updated construction cost estimates
“I have contacted the Upland Architectural group to talk to us about new numbers. They say the numbers (costs estimates) are changing constantly because of the (construction) demand that is going on (in the market). They (architects) are going to refigure the costs of building pre-k to 8 and pre-k to 5 schools and send me some updated numbers ,” said Director Cripps.
Either of these two options would require zoning meaning students would have to attend the elementary school within the zone where they reside.
“We would have to zone under these scenarios because when you have multiple schools with the same grade levels you can’t flood one school with all the students and the other with hardly any students in it so we would have to set boundaries in the county at that point,” Director Cripps said.
Whichever construction plan is presented , the county commission would have to approve it and authorize funding to pay for it over a period of years through a note or bond issue. After the first project is completed and paid for, Director Cripps said the school board wants a plan in place, working with the county commission, to move toward building a new high school.
“We see that we need three schools. The elementary and high school are the oldest buildings in the county and the middle school has some age on it. You can’t just look at this (first) building phase and say we’re done for 20-30 years. We must have in place what our next step is going to be. I think it is important that we have a plan in place. The next phase for other buildings to be built,” he said.
Director Cripps and members of the School Board spent part of the day Saturday traveling about the county looking for property that would potentially make suitable elementary and high school building sites.