BREAKING GROUND:

Board votes to start work on Collierville High.

The Collierville school board voted 4-0 Tuesday to break ground on the town’s huge new high school, formally launching a construction process that’s expected to cost tens of millions of dollars and last more than two years.

“Say a prayer. Wish us luck. Here we go,” Superintendent John Aitken said immediately before the vote.

The school board began exploring the possibility of a new high school well over a year ago, but the vote marks the first time that the board has pulled the trigger to start construction.

Construction leaders now are waiting for an official notice to proceed from the school board, and meetings with environmental officials and the fire marshal, said Bobby Sturgeon, senior project manager with Flintco, a company that along with Linkous Construction is acting as construction manager.

When would work actually start? “If those things happen, it would be toward the end of the month,” Sturgeon said. A formal groundbreaking would take place later.

Tuesday’s vote sets an $8.1 million guaranteed maximum price for two jobs: clearing and preparing the site near the intersection of Shelby Drive and Sycamore Road as well as building driveways and parking areas.

The phrase “guaranteed maximum price” means that if the project costs run over the $8.1 million amount, Flintco / Linkous will have to absorb the difference.

The $8.1 million is just part of the estimated $75 million total cost of building the town’s new high school, expected to be one of the largest in the area. The town borrowed more than $90 million on the bond market last year to fund the project and related costs. It will pay back the money through a 25-cent property tax increase as well as some

sales tax revenue.

Two Collierville-based companies are expected to receive contracts in the first phase of school construction: Browning Construction is expected to earn about $4.4 million for clearing and prepping the site, and Fossett Paving is expected to earn about $1.9 million for building driveways and parking areas.

Separately, the board voted Tuesday night to approve a policy that would require the school board each year to sign off on all fines and fees charged to students. The board would approve fee rates no later than July each year.

The action aims to bring greater board control to the array of fees and fines that schools charge. For instance, students who want to participate in the band must pay $600. (Many other school systems throughout the country likewise charge band fees.)

Language in the new policy reconfirms an existing practice: Students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches are exempt from fees required for classes, but they can be barred from extracurricular activities if they don’t pay for those activities.