Board talks new school

Facilities plan could include new high school

— Whether to build a new high school and move up other campuses to get the intermediate school into a newer facility adjacent to the other campuses or to build a new intermediate school facility was discussed by the Gentry School Board at its Nov. 18 meeting.

Ideally, building a new high school facility (probably on school-owned land just to the north of the existing facility) to provide room and facilities for the upper-level students to make full use of the new educational system based on Common Core Standards and project-based learning wouldbe best. The intermediate school would then move into the current middle school facility, and the middle school would move into the current high school facility.

The cost, however, of building a new high school compared to the cost of building an intermediate school facility could prove to be a planchanging factor in the district’s facilities planning in the near future.

Aliza Jones, an independent private facilities planning consultant used by the Gentry School District and many surrounding districts, told board members a high school facility meeting the district’s futureneeds would need to be close to 96,000 square feet if it included a gymnasium suitable for basketball games up to regional-level playoffs. The price tag for such a new facility would be about $20 million, with the gym costing about $2 million of that total fi gure.

An intermediate school facility would cut the needed facility size almost in half - approximately 50,000 square feet and at a total cost of approximately $8 million.

At the present time, the school could apply for state partnership funding from the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation. According to Randy Barrett, superintendent of Gentry Schools, that amount could be as much as $6.3 million, leaving Gentry School District with approximately $13.7 million for a high school.

Since there has been discussion of ending partnership funding at the state level, Barrett said the district would need to act soon to be assured of receiving state help to build a high school.

News, Pages 1 on 11/27/2013