Mill's rebirth pleases school leaders

ROSBORO -- Centerpoint School District leaders anticipate a boost from the reopening of a sawmill about 30 miles west of Hot Springs.

More than 130 jobs will be created when Caddo River Forest Products in Glenwood begins lumber production in the spring, officials have said. The company said it expects to spend about $4 million in payroll each year.

Caddo River will invest $50 million and receive $2.3 million in state and federal incentives to reopen the former Curt Bean Lumber mill, which closed in 2010. The mill employed about 250 workers.

"Centerpoint is the hometown school for Glenwood," said Centerpoint Superintendent Dan Breshears. "We're tied directly to this town. So good things for Glenwood means good things for Centerpoint."

"I am very excited about the mill reopening," said Larry Harvey, a member of the Centerpoint School Board. "The community and the school have definitely felt the effects of the loss of jobs for several years now. The school district is ready for an influx of new and returning families."

Voters approved a plan to construct a new elementary school for kindergarten through fifth grade students alongside the high school and middle school campuses in Rosboro. The project broke ground June 1, 2015, and it is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Hill and Cox Construction of Hot Springs is the district's construction manager.

The kindergarten-through-third-grade primary school is housed in the former high school in Glenwood. The intermediate school, with grades four and five, is in the former Amity High School.

"Our current construction of new facilities could not come at a better time," Harvey said.

Enrollment in the Centerpoint School District reached 1,083 in 2006. It decreased to 1,046 in 2007 and increased to 1,055 in 2008 before four consecutive years of decline.

The district's enrollment dropped to 963 in 2012, bounced back to 980 in 2013 and fell again to 942 in 2014. The 279 students at the primary school in 2014 marked the lowest number in the past dozen years. The primary school had 404 students in 2004.

Centerpoint Primary School was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2014. The national program recognizes public and private schools based on their overall academic excellence or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

Metro on 07/23/2016

Upcoming Events