Northwest Arkansas Schools Receive Approval For Building Money

Five school districts in Northwest Arkansas received approval April 3 for $4.2 million for building projects.

District officials in the Rogers, Decatur, Springdale, Farmington and Huntsville school districts said they will use the money for building structures and renovating others.

To receive project approval, district officials must submit a six-year plan every two years to the Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Division, said Terry Granderson, assistant director of the division, which is part of the Department of Education. An 18-month review period is done before projects are approved for each biennium.

"It's a constant cycle," he said.

The Rogers School District was approval for $2.77 million for a new elementary school, according to the 2013-15 approved project list.

Jim White, district chief operations officer, said the school has been on the plan for a few years, but officials don't have a time frame for when it will be built. District officials are to discuss growth in the next few weeks and may determine a new school is needed. If so, plans will move forward.

White said a new school will be similar to Janie Darr Elementary School, which opened at the beginning of this school year. Darr is 90,000 square feet and can house up to 700 students.

The Decatur School District received approval for $267,376 for building costs at an elementary school, according to the project list.

Larry Ben, district superintendent, said the money will be used with money the district received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to build a safe room and tornado shelter at Northside Elementary School. The plan is for 5,200 square feet of space, large enough to accommodate 780 people. The facility is expected to be finished in a year and will also be used for physical education classes.

The Springdale School District was approval for $832,328 for building costs at three elementary schools, according to the project list.

Gary Compton, assistant superintendent for support services, said the money is allocated for Elmdale and Smith elementary schools, and will be used to build "modern media centers" with a computer lab and a classroom. The district has spent the last few years upgrading media centers in elementary schools, completing one or two at a time as money is available.

Compton said he expects construction to start this summer and to be completed in 18 months. Only a couple more schools will need media centers after the two projects are finished.

One school that doesn't have a media center is Tyson Elementary School, Compton said. The district also received partnership money to upgrade the electrical service to the building in anticipation of a new media center with a computer lab. The media center hasn't yet been approved, but electrical work will be done to prepare the building.

The Farmington School District was approval for $106,639 to replace a roof on the annex building at Ledbetter Elementary School, according to the project list.

The building houses fourth- and fifth-graders, and the roof is a little more than 20 years old, said Bryan Law, district superintendent.

"It's just a maintenance item," he said.

Law said officials plan for work on the roof to be completed over a five-week period during the summer.

The Huntsville School District was approval for $233,900 for building costs for a multipurpose facility, according to the project list.

The facility would be used for basketball, a stage and classrooms, said Robert Allen, district superintendent. It would be separate from the school campuses on land bought nine or 10 years ago.

However, the facility will cost about $6 million to build, and Allen said he hoped for approval of a couple million dollars. The district also received a $1 million donation from A.T. Smith, a local entrepreneur, for the project.

District officials are trying to pay for the facility without a millage increase, Allen said.

"We're not giving up on the project yet," he said.

A total of 76 projects were approved statewide, according to the project list.

A three-person committee approved the projects, Granderson said. Each district has 60 days to turn in a project agreement form, 18 months to sign a contract with a construction manager or contractor and up to four years to complete approved projects.