Work eyed on fourth junior high

School Board slated to vote on architect, construction manager

BENTONVILLE — Work on a new elementary building just got underway, but the School District already is preparing for its next major facility project: a fourth junior high school.

The School Board is set to vote later this month to approve Hight Jackson Associates as architect and Crossland Construction as construction manager of the junior high school, scheduled to open in August 2020.

The board has not yet discussed a location for the school, but will have to approve one by the end of June, said Paul Wallace, director of facilities.

“It’s coming up on us pretty quick,” Wallace said at Monday’s board meeting.

The district has at least a few options on location after snapping up several large pieces of property last year, including 107 acres on Ford Springs Road between Bentonville and Bella Vista, 30 acres near the Benton County Fairgrounds in southwest Bentonville, and 80 acres at Holloway Road and North Vaughn Road in Centerton.

The recommended minimum site size for a middle or junior high school is 20 acres plus 1 acre per 100 students, according to the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.

Bentonville’s junior high schools — covering grades seven and eight — had a combined enrollment of 2,472 as of Oct. 1. A 2014 demographics report for the district pegged the “ideal capacity” of the three junior highs at 2,873.

The district’s junior high enrollment has grown 8.1 percent over the past five years. Fulbright Junior High School has born the brunt of that growth. Fulbright’s enrollment, now at about 915, has grown 25 percent since it opened in 2013, according to state data.

That presents challenges. Bradley Webber, Fulbright’s principal, said to maximize the use of classroom space, 12 teachers must change classrooms at least once per day. It highlights the “family aspect” of working at Fulbright, he said.

“Everyone has a wonderful facility, but no room belongs to any one person,” Webber said.

The school’s enrollment is projected to grow to 989 this fall. That means the staff probably will have to convert multi-use space into full-time classrooms, so the school will lose some flexibility with its space, he said.

Webber believes increasing enrollment is a testament to the good work being done in the district.

“It’s a challenge, but it’s one worth having,” Webber said.

The fourth junior high school is the second of four schools the district plans to build within the next several years. The 12th elementary school is scheduled to open in August 2019. A 13th elementary school and a sixth middle school also are planned; all four buildings will be paid for with a millage increase the district won last year.

OTHER PROJECTS

Site work has started on the district’s 12th elementary school. That school, which is yet to be named, is being built on Haxton Road in Rogers. Wallace said he’d present a guaranteed maximum price on the project for the board’s approval on April 16.

The board on Monday did approve a maximum price of $1,496,276 to renovate the former Ambassadors for Christ Academy building into a warehouse. The building is in north Bentonville on Ford Springs Road.

The district agreed in September to buy the building for $2.8 million, several months after the school closed. It was estimated at the time that renovating the building to meet the district’s warehouse needs would cost about $1 million.

It’s an unusual project in the sense that the building is on county land, but officials also had to go through the city of Bentonville for certain permits and design approvals because it’s within a 1-mile radius of city limits, Wallace said.

The new warehouse, once completed, will provide more than four times the space the current warehouse on South Main Street provides. The project will start this month and be completed by Aug. 31, according to district documents.

“It’s been a long- awaited addition to our district, a warehouse,” said Travis Riggs, board president. “So I’m glad to see it’s finally coming to a reality.”

Warehouse replacement has been on the district’s capital improvements list since 2007. The current warehouse, appraised last year at $825,000, is for sale.

Also on the district’s todo list this summer is replacement of the roof on the conjoined buildings of Ardis Ann Middle School and Elm Tree Elementary School. Two companies bid on the project, and the winner was Franklin and Son Roofing Co. of Farmington. The district received a guaranteed maximum price of $940,786 on the project, Wallace said.

The new roof is expected to last 20 years. The project is part of the district’s 10-year facility plan, Wallace said.