DECATUR --The Decatur School District's oldest building is currently being used as our middle school. It is a 34,877-square-foot facility that was built in 1959. The district constructed a 29,766-square-foot high school in 1970, along with a 5,458-square-foot cafeteria and 16,481-square-foot gym in 1970. We added an 8,900-square-foot vocational building in 1978, and an annex west wing of 7,710 square feet in 1988. Our newest facility is our elementary school. It is a 46,234-square-foot facility that opened in 2006.
We recently constructed a 5,100-square-foot safe room that can serve as an elementary physical education facility. It opened in August of 2015.
In 2007, we closed Decatur Middle School. This was due to low student numbers and the opening of the new Decatur Northside Elementary. The middle school was previously the district's elementary and was constructed in 1959. We have grown by 22 percent over the past five years, from 490 to our current 601. Due to this growth, we have been forced to reopen the middle school building that was closed in 2007 after 48 years of use to our community. This project, completed over the summers of 2014 and 2015, was a substantial cost to our district. We have invested over $100,000 in labor and materials to reopen an office, nurse's station and seven classrooms in the middle school building, with five more classrooms and a library to open in 2016. This building, along with an annex that had been used by our high school, now houses students in sixth through eighth grade for our district.
We wish to replace the original six classrooms built in 1959 with a gymnasium that will serve as the middle school's physical education center. These original six rooms are unusable in their current state. This space would serve as the middle school auditorium. We currently share a gym with our high school. This space would include a retractable stage, retractable seating for 200 and storm-safe locker rooms.
We will also be submitting a request to the state for a roof replacement, HVAC replacement, plumbing replacement and electrical replacement for Decatur High School. We feel this project is an integral part of the future of our district's academic and financial success. During the previous school year and to start this school year, we have outpaced our projected growth by the Arkansas Department of Education. We are a small district, but we have grown by 110 students over the past four years, up to 600 in 2015-2016 from 490 in 2010-2011.
Along with systems replacements, we will construct a high school commons area in the center section of our school that currently houses offices, restrooms and teacher work spaces. We can achieve a large multipurpose space by building out towards the parking lot and back towards the yard behind our current facility. This space would serve as the high school auditorium. We currently share a gym as auditorium space. This space would include a retractable stage, seating for 500 and storm-safe restrooms. This area could be used as a performing arts center. The lost offices and meeting spaces will be relocated to the existing district office that is connected to the high school. This area will include a new entryway and lobby area as the new high school office.
General News on 01/06/2016