FARMINGTON — Under dark gray clouds and spitting rain Friday, about 40 people ceremoniously turned the first spades of dirt to mark the beginning of construction for a new Farmington High School.
A busload of high school drama students joined school board members, teachers, administrators and representatives of Hight-Jackson Associates architectural and engineering firm at the groundbreaking.
Cade Black said he wouldn’t get to enjoy a new school because he will graduate next spring.
“I’m excited for the people coming up,” Black said.
The first phase includes a 74,000-square-foot building for an 1,800-seat sports arena and a 600-seat performing arts auditorium, stage and dressing rooms, as well as rooms for band, choir and drama.
Sophomores Dana Smith and Whitney Chalfant visited before the groundbreaking.
“It’s pretty great,” Smith said. “I’m excited for it.”
The cost of the first phase is estimated at $9.5 million, Superintendent Bryan Law has said. The site is a 45-acre tract south of the Farmington United Methodist Church on Arkansas 170.
The groundbreaking was anticipated earlier this year however Law said the district wanted to wait until the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation made an allocation to the project. In May, the district received about $1 million in partnership assistance for the fine arts spaces in the first phase. Partnership money can’t be used for athletic facilities.
The spring groundbreaking also was delayed until the city signed off on a drainage easement and that didn’t occur until earlier this week, Law said.
Jeff Oxford, school board president, has been on the board since the discussion of a new high school began about four or five years ago.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Oxford said, looking out over the tract. “I can picture the new high school here. These are exciting times.”
Law said the first phase of construction will take about 15 months to complete.
District officials already are looking ahead to the second phase.
Law said the district will apply for state partnership money in February. It will be two years before the district will know if it will receive the assistance.
The district is eligible to receive about 56 percent of a project’s cost in state assistance.