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Board tours junior high school |
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Thursday, 31 July 2008 |
Sees firsthand need for upgrades
Benton School Board members had an opportunity Tuesday to tour the junior high school and see firsthand what needs improving.
As with other facilities in the school district, the junior high school, which was built in 1968, soon will be undergoing renovations.
In March, voters approved a 6.5 millage increase for the Benton School District. The increase will generate an estimated $28.6 million for facility improvements and make the district eligible to receive several additional millions of dollars in state funding.
One of the district’s highest priorities for improvements is an extensive renovation of Benton High School. The school board has approved schematic drawings of the high school renovation.
“We’re ahead on the high school, and now it’s time to start on the junior high and elementary schools,” said Mike Callahan with Taggart Foster Currence Gray Architects Inc., the architectural firm hired for the projects.
Callahan said school board members, administration, staff and faculty have had the opportunity to tour the junior high and see what will be included in the renovation project. Nabholz Construction, the construction firm on the projects, now will compute estimated cost figures, Callahan said, and then plans can be drawn up for board approval.
Tony Prothro, superintendent of the district, said work on the junior high is expected to begin next summer. “We have to get the asbestos out before we begin, so we have to do it in the summer when kids are not here,” he said.
Prothro added that most projects will be done in the summers over about a three-year period. However, he said, the physical education buildings to be added at each of the district’s four elementary campuses will be up by this time next year.
The tour of the junior high began outside at the front entrance, which will receive enhancements to make the entrance more identifiable, Principal Robbie Rutherford noted.
Other high priorities for the junior high school’s exterior include creating an off-street bus drop, building a covered entry similar to Ringgold Elementary School’s entry, installing the school name in large metal letters and adding windows at the front of the building.
Assistant Principal Lori Kellogg noted that windows at the front would be good for safety reasons. Currently, people can walk through the front entrance and no one will know they’re there until they reach the administrative offices.
Other exterior projects include providing a concrete apron along the west wall to provide positive drainage away from the building, a new concrete landing at the southeast entry and a canopy between buildings, and adding gutters to the roof at the east and west walls of the 300 building to divert water away from foundation walls.
A new science building was constructed for the school with a previous millage increase. With the latest increase, a new band building will be included.
High priorities for the interior of the school include adding a video surveillance camera system, key card access control hardware at cafeteria entry doors and all main entry doors and new finishes at the main office and library for a more attractive appearance.
Other priorities include installing movable gym bleachers, replacing existing gym flooring with appropriate sports-activity flooring and installing new lockers. Some of the back sides of lockers also serve as walls to some downstairs classrooms, which can become quite noisy, Rutherford noted.
On numerous stops, plant manager Kevin Chastain and crew were commended for the painting and cleaning that already has taken place throughout the school.
Also participating in the tour were school board members Paul Childress, Bill Ford and Judd Hart; Assistant Principal Charles Reynolds; Karla Neathery, director of curriculum and instruction for the school district; and Scott Neathery, director of athletics and transportation.
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