FAYETTEVILLE — The grounds are quiet now, but within days the Fayetteville High School campus will be transformed into a large construction site.
Fencing will go up to keep students out of the area on the south side of the campus where work on the $45 million construction project will begin. Bates Annex, originally an elementary school on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Buchanan Street, will be razed.
As the opening the school approaches in just three weeks, plans for student parking have been finalized, Superintendent Vicki Thomas said Tuesday.
AT A GLANCE
Fayetteville School Board
When: 7:30 a.m. Thursday
Where: Ray Adams Leadership Center, 1000 W. Stone St.
Purpose: To approve contracts for removal of Bates Annex and site preparation and excavation for renovation of Fayetteville High School.
Source: Staff Report
Bid packages for the demolition of Bates and for the site preparation and excavation on the south side of the campus were opened Tuesday morning, said Phil Jones of Nabholz Construction, the firm serving as construction manager for the project.
The bids were to be reviewed Tuesday afternoon and today in anticipation of meeting with the Fayetteville School Board at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Jones said. He expects recommendations will be made at that time.
Jones said construction activity at the school will start next week, possibly as soon as Monday. Fencing is expected to be one of the first visible signs of the construction.
Meanwhile, Steve Jacoby, the school’s new principal, and other staff are at work preparing for the arrival of 10th- through 12th-grade students on Aug. 19, the opening day of school.
Orientation is planned for students entering the 10th grade on Aug. 10 and 11, Jacoby said.
New this year is the distribution of schedules for all students on the first day of school rather than in advance of the school’s opening.
Jacoby said the distribution will be done in home rooms at the start of the first day.
In previous years, not all students came to school early to get class schedules, prompting a new distribution plan for this year, Jacoby said. Students were either working or had no transportation to come to school early, he said.
The parking situation at the school has prompted questions among students and parents.
Jacoby said 500 spaces are available for student parking in the parking lot across Razorback Road from Baum Stadium. That lot is about three-quarters of a mile from the high school campus.
Sophomores will not be allowed to drive cars to school.
During construction, seniors and staff will be allowed to park at the high school campus. All others will park at the University of Arkansas site. Students will have to purchase a $40 parking sticker from the university’s transit and parking office to park at the Baum Stadium site.
Shuttle buses will run from the parking lot to the campus to get students to school. Shuttle buses also will operate between the main campus and the Regional Technology Center on Old Farmington Road where some classes will be offered. The alternative learning center and the vocational agriculture program will be at the regional center, formerly West Campus, while new spaces for the two programs are under construction on campus.
The first phase of the high school renovation involves building a new small learning community to accommodate 600 students at the northwest corner of the campus as well as new buildings fronting on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard that include new gymnasiums, cafeteria and performing arts center facilities.
The district will ask patrons on Sept. 21 to approve a 2.75-mill increase in property taxes to finance Phase Two of the high school expansion and renovations. Phase Two largely involves the academic areas, including the existing high school classrooms.
The balance of the improvements is projected to cost about $48 million.