The Watson Chapel School District Board of Directors considered building a new K-1 school instead of a middle school in preparation for a second try at a millage election next spring during its regular monthly meeting Monday night.
District superintendent Danny Hazelwood told the board that he had spoken with several officials including district financial adviser Jack Truemper and district facilities adviser Chad Davidson to put together a game plan for moving forward in the wake of the failed special election for a proposed millage increase in April.
“At last month’s board meeting I planted the seed of changes that are coming to our facilities plan as far as a change in the buildings that we will plan to build and what it means as far as our planning,” Hazelwood said.
Hazelwood said that he is inclined to pursue a plan in which a new K-1 school is built to replace Edgewood Elementary, which the state has deemed as in need of replacement, instead of the original plan of building a new middle school and shifting the elementary grades to different schools.
“The problem we face in a change to our facilities plan is that we have already received state approval to build a middle school with the state providing $6 million, or 76 percent of the total estimated project cost of $7.9 million,” Hazelwood said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Now we must re-evaluate the cost of a K-1 building and whether the state will accept our plan. Chad [Davidson] has worked with the facilities division and he thinks that the state will accept our plan. We want to build the new school adjacent to Edgewood and we could save money by utilizing the existing gym because it was built in 2002 and is still good. The problem with the gym is that it faces north and it needs to face south if we want to build the school to the south.”
Hazelwood said Davidson believes the state will take some of the offered $6 million away because that amount included funds for a new middle school gym.
“The new building will cost more than a middle school,” Hazelwood said. “This is because the cost of plumbing is more in a K-1 school because you need restrooms in each classroom and the kindergarten classrooms are bigger than other classrooms. We are probably looking at a total project cost of $9 million for a new K-1 building.”
Hazelwood said that if the state continues to fund its share at $6 million, the school district will need to come up with $3 million.
“We will probably need to ask for around a 2-mil increase to come up with $3 million,” Hazelwood said.
Richard Taylor with Nelson Architectural Group gave a brief presentation to the board at Hazelwood’s request.
“The wooded area behind Edgewood Elementary is 14.9 acres and we would build the new facility to the south of the existing gym,” Taylor said. “The plan is to construct sidewalks covered with canopies to connect the new school to the gym and to build a new entrance on the south side of the gym.”
Taylor said that one cost-saving option for the required demolition of the old Edgewood school building is the use of inmate labor from the Department of Correction.
“They would do all of the demolition work except for pulling up and disposing of the old foundation,” Taylor said. “There is asbestos in the floor tiles in the old building so that would have to be abated by specialists first before demolition work begins.”
Hazelwood opened up the floor to questions from board members.
Board member Robin Barker asked if the district already owns the wooded land adjacent to Edgewood.
“We don’t own the property but the cost of buying it is already factored into the total project cost,” Hazelwood said. “I am going to probably pursue this and if any of you have concerns let me know. A millage increase of 2 or 2.1 mills will be a lot easier for voters to digest than what we asked for before.”
In the April 10 special school election the district asked voters to approve an increase of 5 mills over the present millage rate of 31.8, which has remained unchanged since 1974.
Board communications
Board vice president Sandra C. Boone said that the district should do more to hire local contractors to do work that is put out to bid.
“We should give opportunities to our local contractors,” Boone said. “We need to do what we can to support local contractors.”
Hazelwood said the bidding process is open to all who want to place a bid.
Board president Danny Holcomb agreed with Boone that everything should be done to hire local contractors.
Boone said that she attended the American School Boards Association regional conference in Biloxi, Miss., in July and attended several workshops, including one on leadership, and another that studied the effectiveness of putting cameras in classrooms to allow students to review lessons online.
Personnel
The board approved a reccomendation made by Hazelwood to terminate the employment of head bus mechanic Roy Clark for asking for a ‘kick-back’ from a vendor, excessive absences and including personal items on a school purchase order.
Hazelwood informed the board that he accepted the resignations of Rosemary Benjamin, Carla McCoy-Roaf, Susan Schultz, DeOnna Tichy, and Kristine Brooks.
The board approved Hazelwood’s recommendation to hire Clifton Lewis as a junior high physical science teacher; Ray Mitchell as a junior high basketball coach and physical education teacher; Jada Jones as an elementary literacy teacher; Donna Anne Depriest as an elementary math teacher; Deborah Johnson as a special education aide; Robert Tate as an AM bus driver; Jimmie Brown as a bus driver; and Alexandra Bivens as a substitute bus aide.
Financial statement
The board approved the July financial statement, which showed that the district received $200,506 and spent $540,050 in non-activity funds, leaving an ending balance of $6,185,178.