GENTRY -- Though poorly attended (only six parents and one student in addition to school board members, school staff and media), information was presented and questions answered at an informational meeting hosted by the school board on April 9 about proposed plans to request a millage increase and build a new intermediate school classroom facility on the Gentry Intermediate School campus.
Plans were shared with those in attendance to build a 57,000-plus-square-foot building, including 18 classrooms and a safe room/commons area, on the intermediate school campus, located on South Second Street in Gentry. Proposed plans would make the new building two-stories to accommodate the need for adequate classroom space on the limited-space campus. The look was also modeled to reflect the old two-story brick high school building once located on that campus.
Also included in building plans would be a new roof on the portion of the intermediate school not included in demolition plans (the multi-purpose building on the north side of the bus tunnel), a diesel-mechanics' lab with two truck bays and career classrooms on the high school campus (proposed along Swepco Rd., on the north edge of the baseball field), electrical upgrades and improvements in the high school and the new agriculture building, and an upgrade to the sound and lighting system in the high school auditorium.
A millage increase of 3.1 mills is being proposed to pay for the school construction and improvements, and the increase will be placed on the ballot in the September 20 school board election -- an election which usually has a far lower voter turnout than general elections, making it sometimes easier for millage increases to be passed.
The millage increase requested is considerably less than one would expect in order to fund building projects with a price tag of $12 million, but the district is expected to retire a significant portion of its bonded debt next year, reducing yearly bonded debt payments by nearly $438,000, and is also hopeful it will receive approximately $2.5 million from the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation for the intermediate school classroom project.
Additional funding could also be received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the building of a safe room/commons area on the intermediate campus which would be large enough to accommodate all students and staff from the school.
And, should the district not be approved for state funding to assist in the building projects, the intermediate school campus would be the first priority, according to Randy Barrett, superintendent for the Gentry School District, and would be built with voter-approved bonds with the other upgrades put on hold until funding becomes available. Building a diesel mechanics' lab and classroom space for the new charter school's career training was also a high priority in the building plan.
Architects from Hight Jackson and Associates of Rogers, the school district's selected architectural firm, presented conceptual drawings of a proposed two-story classroom building on the intermediate campus. The plans include six classrooms for each grade level (third through fifth) and a commons area. A two-story plan was chosen because of space limitations on the campus. The proposed plans would leave additional green space which could be used for a variety of school-related functions.
In the plan, the six wing buildings and the main classroom area would be demolished -- leaving the multi-purpose area with music and art rooms, a gym and a cafeteria -- and the new classroom facility would be built on the site of the existing main classroom area. According to Barrett, it might be possible to tear down the wing buildings last and use them for classroom space while the new school facility is under construction so that all or most of the students could continue to have classes there.
Cost to property owners, should the millage increase be approved by voters in September, would be approximately $62 per year for every $100,000 in real personal property. According to the chart shown by Barrett, $100,000 in real personal property would be assessed at 20 percent of that value, making the annual additional tax $62 (or $5.17 per month or $0.17 per day). Barrett said he was willing to pay the additional tax on his property for a new and much-needed school facility for grades three through five.
Barrett told those in attendance that the oldest of the wing buildings dates back to the late 1950s, the current intermediate school to the early 1970s and the multi-purpose building to the early 1980s. Barrett says the state still regards the multi-purpose building as a usable school facility but counts the rest of the campus as having outlived or nearly outlived its usefulness as a school facility.
Should the millage increase be approved in September and the state facilities division approve and award construction money, a new school facility could be completed on the intermediate school campus by the end of 2018 or early in 2019. A diesel mechanics' lab could be built and ready to use by the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year.
Though dates have not yet been set, additional public information meetings are being planned later this summer so that voters may make an informed decision in the September school board election. Suggestions were made by parents to send home information with students and to have an informational booth at the July 4 Freedom Festival in Gentry so that voters can have all the facts. Both of these are being done.
General News on 05/18/2016