Decatur school renovation to begin in August
DECATUR — In 1971, the Decatur School District moved its high school from what is now Decatur City Hall to its present location on Stadium Drive in the eastern part of the city. Over the years, the 49-year-old building has undergone a few minor modifications but basically remains the same today. But the look of Decatur High School will soon be changing and, over the next few years, will look almost completely different.
Since 2017, when Jeff Gravette was school superintendent, the Decatur School Board grappled with renovating the high school building, which is beginning to show its age. When Steve Watkins took over the superintendent’s job in 2018, the board was searching for a way to finance the building project through the use of state grants from the Arkansas Department of Education and other organizations.
Phase 1 of the renovation involves the construction of a new and more modern cafeteria, kitchen and breezeway. Construction is slated to begin in August and is expected to take up to six months or less to complete.
A part of the project has already been completed, as of the first week in June. The old floor tiles which contained asbestos were removed from the entire main building by a specialty company. After stripping the old glue and dirt off of the floors, four coats of clear wax were applied, giving the building an old school shine. Once Phase 2 begins next year, new tile will be laid down.
Since classroom space opened back up at Northside Elementary, the board decided to move the Pre-K school, which is between the present high school cafeteria and Decatur Middle School, back to DNE. This move frees up the current Pre-K building for storage until the Phase 2 project begins in 2021. The play equipment was relocated to DNE in May.
With the Pre-K move, Phase 1 can begin. The new cafeteria will be built where the Pre-K playground was located.
The high school renovation project is expected to be complete by January 2022, barring any unforeseeable delays.