Over the course of the 2018-19 school year, most Union County schools have planned for, started or completed physical changes to their facilities. These range from repairs to the Administration Building at South Arkansas Community College to renovations at Parkers Chapel to new buildings in the Junction City and El Dorado districts.
SouthArk
After the fire in the attic of the Administration Building last spring, South Arkansas Community College is working steadily to get it back in working order for the fall semester.
The 114-year-old building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places as the 1095 Junior College Building, was struck by lightning around 10:30 p.m. April 13, 2018, as severe thunderstorms moved through the area. The El Dorado Fire Department spent the night, and well into the next day, fighting to extinguish the blaze.
The building was unoccupied at the time and no one was hurt, though it did put an abrupt stop to the first annual South Arkansas Literary Festival.
Despite the fire being contained to the attic, smoke and water damage made its way throughout the building, as millions of gallons of water were used to put out the flames. SouthArk President Barbara Jones said her office was the hardest hit because of its placement in the building.
However, not everything in the building was destroyed. The famous signature of Elvis Presley, which was on the wall of the attic, remained intact. It’s been placed in a display box and moved to the SouthArk Library.
The first step in the process once the fire was out was to have Metro Disaster come in to remove anything that was wet. Jones said this included carpet and sheet rock on the walls.
With all the moisture, Jones said, there was mold in the building that needed to be fumigated out.
Jones said that process took until the end of August. In the meantime, the college had to look for an architect – which ended up being Taylor Kempkes Architects, based in Hot Springs – and put the project out for bid.
In November, Flynn Co. was the low bid, with consideration for the historical aspect of the project, at roughly $3.6 million. The board also approved paying an additional $215,000 to expedite the process.
As a result, the project really didn’t start until December. It includes putting in all new electrical, fiber lines for phones and computers, an elevator and HVAC system. Jones said when it comes to those elements, there is a slight positive to the project.
“It was an old building, it had been renovated many, many times,” Jones said. “It’ll come back with everything new. The fiber was probably newer, but it was installed years ago. All of that will be brand new and we’ll be able to have it in one place. ... We’ll be able to do some things that are a little more up-to-date and (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.”
Jones said the current projected completion date is in mid-August, shortly after the beginning of the fall semester. The original completion date was set for July but pushed back because more problems were uncovered during the process.
One such setback was when some of the drainage pipes in the basement broke. It’s unclear whether they broke because of damage or because of the added pressure of the fire, but officials are assuming it’s a bit of both.
Another setback was when they realized that some of the joists were flexing. Jones said she was told the joists under the floors were still strong and sturdy but some were starting to bend. As a result, they had to go through and add some in those areas to help keep the floors steady.
Because the building is on the historical register, there’s certain details that need to be adhered to in order to keep that status. Jones said they need to pay special attention to things like the plaster, molding, tin ceilings, doors and chair rails.
When it comes to the staircase Jones said there’s damage under it, but officials are still assessing as to what degree. If it’s not too bad, they may only need to replace some parts of the staircase, but if it’s more severe then the whole thing may need to be replaced.
The college is taking the chance to improve the building, move things around and reconstruct rooms to better suit current needs.
Jones said the bottom floor is going to be redesigned as a learning commons. The area will include the tutoring center, distance learning, recruiting and student government association.
Jones said this is part of the college’s master plan. She noted they were originally looking at expanding the library, but with a push for more online courses, this seemed like a better way to go.
The second floor, she said, will be for financial offices, human resources, the business office and the foundation. The third floor will be her office, the office for the vice president of academic affairs and offices for the institutional effectiveness and research team.
“We took the opportunity to move people around,” Jones said.
The building was named in honor of former board trustee Charlie Thomas the night before the fire.
“We can do the appropriate naming, put it up on the wall, have the ribbon cutting and all that," she said. "We have the letters, we ordered them and we were going to have a naming ceremony in May last year, but that was postponed.”
Parkers Chapel
In 2018, the Parkers Chapel School District finished a roughly $8.5 million renovation project that was started in May 2016.
Superintendent Michael White said the renovations were mostly focused on safety and size. The school added six new classrooms by connecting two buildings with a hallway, adding table room to the cafeteria and creating an auditorium for school assemblies and other large events.
The project also added two large common rooms that can house all students in case of a tornado warning. The hallway that increased the number of classrooms also serves to keep students from needing to go outside in between classes and both entrances to the school now have automatic-locking doors that require all visitors to check in with one of the offices before going into the main part of the school.
Two large AC units were installed in the gym for temperature and humidity control.
The stage and classrooms in the cafeteria were removed to allow for more space, while the serving line was moved and expanded to two lines, and a small projector was installed.
An auditorium large enough to seat over 400 people was created. It includes a screen and projector system, and the schools have added a drama program which will use the auditorium for productions.
Additional security cameras and door locks were installed. The door locks are timed based on the school schedules and are only unlocked when students are moving between classes.
The parking lots and bus loop were asphalted, in part to avoid dust being tracked through the schools.
The softball field was renovated with a new press box and covered bleachers.
An LED message sign was installed at the sports complex on Highway 15 as a way to get announcements out to the community.
The old tradition of putting names of graduates in the sidewalk has been shifted to printing bricks with the names of graduates that are placed along the sidewalk in front of the school.
“Someone made the comment that ‘we were breaking a tradition up,’” White said. “When it was decided that all the sidewalks needed to come up, I told them that unless you believe that the laying of a sidewalk was the tradition, we were not. The tradition is to memorialize every graduate from Parkers Chapel and we are continuing that. All we did was change the mechanism for that tradition.”
White said the work isn’t necessarily done. The school board is still looking into other renovations or additions that the community thinks would improve the schools.
Junction City
The Junction City School District has been working on an additional building to the high school campus in the form of an Art and Activity Center.
The building, which will be able to host physical education, health, sports medicine, art and band classes, started construction in fall 2018, but the project was submitted to the Arkansas Division of Academic School Facilities in February 2016.
High School Principal Joy Mason said the district had to remove the old gym because it was condemned after the new gym was built, which meant the school lost its area for health and PE.
“Any time students had PE, they were taken to the new gym by bus or taken to the city park to walk,” Mason said. “It worked, but this building will take care of PE classes, it’ll take care of a place for health. It will also be an area where other activities can take place after school hours.”
Mason said the school district decided to add art and music to the new building because those areas have been housed across the street at the elementary school since the ’80s. She said this will allow those areas to come back to the high school campus so that students aren’t having to cross the street several times a day.
The building is costing $1,760,000, but that’s not all coming from the district’s budget. Superintendent Robby Lowe said the project was approved for funding from the State Partnership Fund in 2017. The state is covering about 35 percent of the construction costs, which left the district with the remaining $1.2 million.
Lowe said that funding is coming from a second lien bond based on property tax collections from the voter approved 40.9 mills.
The project was designed by ERC of El Dorado, Lowe said, with all subcontractors based in Union County.
“The grants that we get to use for building, that just made it doable for our district,” Mason said.
Some of the after-school activities Mason mentioned could take place in the building include community events as well as school clubs.
“It’s a building that’s not reserved for athletics,” Mason said.
When the building is finished, the school district has already received a grant to put a walking track behind it. Mason said it will give a space for people to exercise after school and where the band can practice.
“We’ll start construction on that when this building is complete,” Mason said. “We can’t really do anything right now because there’s so much mud. Once we get concrete in place, we’ll be able to get back there to where the walking track can be constructed. The last phase of that will be creating the band practice field in the middle.”
Smackover-Norphlet
In December, the Smackover-Norphlet School Board took a four to one vote in favor of reorganizing the district with the goal of making it more efficient.
The reorganization proposal came to the board over summer as a way to save money in order to give teachers a pay raise.
The board voted to have kindergarten through fourth grade at the Smackover Elementary campus, with the fifth through eighth grade students at the Norphlet campus. The high school will remain untouched while the Smackover Preschool will be able to move to the Norphlet campus.
By doing this, the school district will require five fewer elementary teachers since the students who are currently spread between the two schools based on where they live will all be together at one campus.
Currently, there are two kindergarten classes at Norphlet Elementary and three at Smackover Elementary. By having all of the kindergarten classes on one campus, based on the state-required teacher to student ratio, the district would only need four classes rather than the five currently offered. It would be a similar situation with the first through fifth grade students, except for fourth grade, which was recommended to keep four classes.
When it comes to moving the preschool, Superintendent John Gross said there’s several factors that would go into the move. First, it would give the school more room to expand, which Special Programs Director Teri Philyaw said it needs based on how many students they have to put on the wait list every year.
Secondly, Gross said the Norphlet campus would be safer for the preschool because it isn’t right on Smackover Highway like the current building is and because of the fencing and door locks that are already installed at the Norphlet campus.
One of the concerns voiced by the public about the reorganization plan was that the fifth grade students would be isolated on their own in a different building from the other middle school students.
Damon Goodwin, the board member from Norphlet, was the only one to vote against the reorganization plan, and he echoed those concerns.
“That’s my only issue with having fifth grade in the building over there, that they’re going to feel like they’re on an island on their own. That’s the only drawback to the whole plan,” Goodwin said. “I know what the teachers are asking for, I know what the patrons are asking for. I’ve talked to parents that (are concerned about) having that one grade in that building on their own even through we’re going to incorporate them as much as possible. You don’t have any peers to look up to, you don’t have any siblings below you to guide so you are basically on an island. That worries a lot of parents.”
Gross and Curriculum Director Jennifer Lee said they're looking at ways for the fifth-graders to serve as mentors to the preschool students. Lee has also been working on setting up a mentorship program, which would unite fifth grade students with members of the community to help them work through the year of transition between elementary and middle school. They also said the school will look for every opportunity to have the fifth and sixth grade students together through lunch period and different activities.
The district is getting ready to do the physical moving over the summer. Lee said this process should run smoothly, referencing back to when the Smackover and Norphlet school districts merged in 2015. When the district reorganized then, it was more complicated because of a fire that sparked in the then Norphlet High School library on Easter weekend.
“This is a lot easier than last time because last time there was a major fire,” Lee said. “It was a Saturday morning when the fire occurred. I remember hearing ‘Oh, it’s not too bad.’ ... To say disaster would be an understatement.”
Then, the classes had to be moved to Norphlet Elementary and various other buildings on the campus in order to continue classes on Monday. By August, when school started, they were still working on cleaning up the damage.
“It’s going to be an undertaking, but it’s not near what that was,” Lee said of the anticipated move.
Lee said she’s working on getting feedback from teachers about what grades they’d like to teach in order to take that into consideration before making assignments. She said it would be impossible to give everybody exactly what they want, but the district is making an effort to take desires into consideration.
“Before we can start placing people, we need to make sure what positions are going to be open,” Lee said, noting that there’s been a number of resignations and she’s expecting a couple more before the end of the school year. “The process is going on, we’re receiving resignations. As we receive resignations, the administrators are looking to see who would best fit the existing jobs so that we can run our district efficiently.”
When it comes to the actual moving, Lee said at the end of the school year teachers will pack up their rooms and the district will likely hire somebody – possibly high school students – to transport the boxes of supplies from one campus to the other.
“I have full faith and confidence in our administration and our teachers and our maintenance that this is going to go smoothly," Lee said. "It’s just a matter of first we have to finish the school year.”
El Dorado
The El Dorado School District and the city of El Dorado are working together on alterations to Memorial Stadium, which are expected to be completed over the summer. Additionally, El Dorado is hoping to start construction on a new facility to house transportation, maintenance and food services for the district by summer.
Both projects are being worked on by CADM Architecture Inc, which the district has worked with in the past.
When it comes to Memorial Stadium, CADM is the company that build the original stadium in 1947. It was built to honor Union County residents who served in WWII. The stadium’s original architect, the late John Abbott, founded CADM so the original architectural drawings are being used for structural analysis to review how to develop a two-tier press box and bring the west side of the stadium seating into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The cost of the alterations is expected to be around $700,000 and was approved by the El Dorado Works Board in August to be funded through the city’s one-cent, economic development tax. The school board rents the stadium from the city and pays for maintenance, personnel and supplies.
As part of the project, Blake Dunn with CADM Architecture said they’ll need to remove two rows of bleachers from the front of the west grandstand in order to widen the area so that visitors who use a wheelchair can maneuver the bleachers.
Currently, access for these patrons is on the track. The alteration is going to include a ramp, Dunn said, that will be on the north side of the bleachers. Between the ramp, removing some rows of seats to widen the front aisle and removing additional seats in four spots, Dunn said the bleachers will be more accessible for people with limited mobility.
Dunn told the school board that the accessibility part of the project will cause the removal of 200 seats. The original proposal said there will be the space to accommodate between nine and 12 wheelchairs.
The press box will be expanded from the current one story to two. It will expand to include three media areas, a P.A. area and a hospitality section on the first floor. The second floor will have an area for the superintendent, one for visiting coaches, one for home coaches, an area for scouts and a larger area with a balcony for a film area. It will also include two stairwells.
Part of the conversation about renovating the press box came up after the 2017 Murphy USA Classic and concerns that the current box isn’t equipped for larger events.
“It’s insufficient for high school, let alone the Murphy USA Classic,” said state Rep. Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, at the August El Dorado Works Board meeting.
Dunn said the press box alterations will result in a loss of 108 seats with diminished visibility for an additional 58.
The school board didn’t express concerns about the seating reduction, saying there’s usually still some empty seats for big events such as graduation.
With that project expected to finish around the end of May, the school district will be gearing up to start work on another project by the beginning of July. This one will create a new facility down the street from the high school that would house transportation, food services and maintenance for all the schools.
The tentative timeline for the project would have bidding documents completed on May 3, with an actual bid date of June 20, construction would start July 1 with a completion date of Dec 31.
In November, the district bid on a parcel of land behind El Dorado High School, south of Parnell Road and east of the Highway 82 bypass. The board voted to pay $15,000 for 10.76 acres of land with the total cost for the land being around $163,319.
At the March school board meeting, Dunn presented the board with a plan for the land, including a blueprint for a facility that would allow for individual space for transportation support, food services and maintenance. The facility would also include a bus yard for about 90-100 buses, more than the district currently has with about 85. Currently, all three departments are housed in separate locations.
Dunn presented a preliminary budget for the project of $2.1 million, which wouldn’t include items such as shop equipment, fuel tanks and lifts. Superintendent Jim Tucker said the district has been setting aside money to prepare for this project for about a decade so there is money in the building fund for it and additional equipment.
Dunn said he’s been working with leadership in all three areas to establish what their needs are and figure out how best to serve them. He also visited the current facilities to see how things are currently being done, plus those at other school district to see how their buildings are designed for these services.
The western two-thirds of the property would be taken up by the bus yard because the property is deeper on that side. Meanwhile, the eastern side of the property would be dedicated to maintenance work area and food services receiving yard.
“What we’re trying to do is separate bus traffic and separate all other functional traffic with people visiting the building, maintenance traffic in and out, and delivery traffic,” Dunn said.
Dunn said there will be fencing around the area as well as trees to help “the building be a good neighbor” so that those around the property wouldn’t be looking at buses all the time. He said there’s also been talk of including some fast growing trees along that area as well.
The building, which would be about 15,025 square feet, includes a divide for each area as well as a front office space.
Along the west side of the building will be the transportation area, which is deep enough for two buses to pull in end to end with each other.
“It’s set up to accommodate the largest buses the district has, plus room to work around them if they had to take the hood off or things like that to get to the transmission,” Dunn said. “They can actually have space to get around them, which they don’t have now.”
The area is a wide open space with an open storage area for tools or parts. As well as the first floor, there would be a second floor for more storage that would be split by a wall for the transportation and maintenance departments to share. The area is designed for a forklift to be able to set pallets in the second floor storage space.
The maintenance department is also a wide open space with access to loading docks for receiving shipments and an area to back a trailer into that would be protected from the weather. The district does it’s own keying so Dunn set up a room for that within the maintenance department’s space.
The food services area is mostly comprised of three spaces: a walk-in cooler, a walk-in freezer and a dry storage space. There’s also a loading dock for the food services area for shipments coming into the facility or out to the different campuses.
A receptionist will be there to help anybody coming in get connected with who they need. The receptionist area will be separated from a waiting area by a wall and security glass window, and doors will be accessed controlled so that the receptionist would have to allow access. These security measures are similar to the entrances of most of the district’s schools.
Along with storage rooms, the common area will also have a meeting/break room where the departments could do training or presentations. The room could be used after hours if needed. The second level of additional storage is because the common/public area doesn’t need to be as tall.
Each department would have access to that additional storage space, including a door that would be large enough for pallets of supplies to be placed into the area using a forklift.
The outside of the building will be a tan wall with a silver roof. Dunn said to help emphasize the public entrance, they’re planning to bump the wall out about a foot with a contrasting metal color. He said it’s a no-cost item, but would help break up the appearance of the large gray building
Dunn said one of the concerns is unknown oil wells being on the area. There’s at least two on the property, but he said it’s almost expected for there to be more. He said it wouldn’t cost the district anything if some are found, but would impact the timeline. The Oil and Gas Commission has been notified by the district and would provide the funds to deal with any wells, but there could be timeline delays because the commission would need to vote to provide the funds and they only vote once a month.
A concern Board Member Todd Whatley brought up is the heating and cooling system for the board. He expressed concern about chemicals or fuel used by the transportation or maintenance departments having an impact on the food.
Dunn said they’ll use split systems so the air wouldn’t be circulating between departments and the floor to ceiling walls between each department should also keep any cross contamination from happening.
“What we didn’t want to do is have that wide open,” Dunn said. “We’ve tried to take that into account.”
Michael Shine may be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook @MichaelAZShine for updates on Union County school news.