Board approves initial designs for new middle school

Features include outdoor play areas, music room, dining hall with a stage

FAYETTEVILLE — The School Board approved conceptual designs Thursday for a new middle school.

The board voted 7-0 in support of the schematics.

The school will be off Rupple Road and will serve about 800 fifth- and sixth-graders, said Megan Duncan, Support Services associate superintendent.

Lewis Architects Engineers of Little Rock developed the designs for the school, according to supporting documents.

Some of the school’s features will include multiple outdoor play areas with hard and soft surfaces and a covered space for outdoor learning, room for outdoor environmental learning, a music room and a dining hall with a stage, said Clayton Vaden, Lewis Architects Engineers architect, at a work session before to the meeting.

“We spent a lot of time talking to a lot of people about the design,” Duncan said.

More unique attributes to the design feature second-floor learning pods with balconies that overlook the play areas and a media room that took student recommendations for the space into consideration, he said.

Students expressed a desire to have a media room with the light and airy feel of a coffee shop, Vaden said.

The use of windows that extend almost from the floor to the ceiling has helped contribute to that intent, he said.

Large windows also factor into the design of the dining hall, Vaden said, explaining they will feature window boxes in which students can look out and view the play area.

The size of the school is yet to be determined, Duncan said, and will be solidified as the designs continue to be refined.

The guaranteed maximum price of project will be voted on at the May 2021 School Board meeting, she said.

Construction on the school will begin after the School Board approves the guaranteed maximum price and is anticipated to conclude in April 2023, Duncan said.

“Simply saying ‘yes’ to the design is the beginning of the beginning,” Vaden said.

The board also voted 7-0 to approve a $ 2.4 million guaranteed maximum price for work to be done at Ramay and Woodland junior high schools over spring break.

The work includes fully installing LED lights at both schools for about $399,000, heating, ventilation and air conditioning system work at Ramay for more than $ 1.4 million and mechanical electrical and plumbing work at Woodland for about $629,000.

Ramay will also undergo some additional cosmetic and Americans with Disabilities Act work in the future, Duncan said, to include work in the cafeteria and school entrance and installing an elevator.

The board likewise voted 7- 0 to approve a new high-definition video display board in Bulldog Arena, 994 Martin Luther King Blvd., in support of the school’s volleyball, basketball, wrestling, cheer and dance and sports broadcasting programs.

The board will feature 281 trillion colors and will cost about $90,000, according to support documents.