ROGERS -- Architects and civil engineers on Tuesday presented the School Board some details of how the 16th elementary school will look inside and out.
The school will be built off of West Garrett Road in southwest Rogers on the southern half of 80-acres the School District owns. The building's design will mirror Janie Darr Elementary School, the last elementary the district opened in 2013.
The unnamed school is scheduled to open in August 2019. It will be about 89,000 square feet.
Michelle McClaflin, a vice president with the architectural firm Hight Jackson Associates, presented the board some renderings of the school and samples of colors that will be integrated. Colors will vary from Darr Elementary School to give the school its own identity, McClaflin said.
Another difference from Darr will be in the flooring. Polished concrete will be used instead of epoxy, a move that will save money, McClaflin said.
She acknowledged while polished concrete can crack, it generally holds up well and requires little maintenance.
A 6-acre retention pond will be built just west of the school to handle storm drainage for the area, said Charles Lee, the district's assistant superintendent for general administration. The pond will take care of storm drainage for the entire 80 acres, of which the elementary school will take up 25, Lee said.
"We will never have to worry about water quality or storm drainage in that area again when we get ready to build on the north end of that property," he said.
Board members had some safety-related concerns about the pond.
The pond will be about 100 to 150 feet from the building at its closest point and there will be a fence around it. Even if a child were able to get in, it will be very shallow for the first 15 feet into it, said Daniel Ellis, a civil engineer with Crafton Tull.
The gymnasium is being designed as a "safe room" that can withstand tornadic wind, McClaflin said.
The cost of site work hasn't been determined. Lee told the board he plans to bring the board a price on site work in October.
"I respectfully ask that you give us some time to work on that. Because the last thing I want is to give out misinformation. We're working on it, I will tell you that," Lee said.
Most of the district's schools begin the 2017-18 school year today. The lone exception is Eastside Elementary School, which is on the nontraditional calendar. It opened July 27.
District enrollment as of Tuesday was 15,702, up from 15,399 students the district counted on Oct. 1.
Enrollment "will bounce around for the next few weeks," said Superintendent Marlin Berry. "We will see that sorted out. We have the number of teachers in appropriate spaces that we need to start."
NW News on 08/16/2017