BENTONVILLE — A proposed expansion to West High School will allow the facility to serve 500 more students by 2024, according to district officials.
The School Board on Tuesday unanimously approved contracts with Hight Jackson Associates for architectural services and Flintco for construction management services to begin designing and planning the high school addition. The board also addressed renovation plans for Sugar Creek and Thomas Jefferson elementary schools and Tennie Russell Primary School.
The 430,000-square-foot West High School opened in August 2016 with about 1,250 students. The student population has grown to 2,279 as of Oct. 1, or 81.4% of the building’s capacity of 2,800 students, according to board documents. Assuming an annual average growth rate of 6%, it will serve a projected 2,877 students by 2025, the documents say.
The school was designed with space for the addition of two classroom pods, according to facilities manager Paul Wallace. The expansion was put on the 10-year district plan in 2018 after back to back years of rapid student growth, he said.
The pods will be built on the northwest and southwest sections of existing classrooms, according to district documents. Core curriculum programs and elective courses will be vetted to make sure there is enough classroom space for the courses being offered at the school.
Wallace recommended Flintco as the contractor for the project, since it built the high school. A guaranteed maximum price for the project will be presented to the school board in August or September, he said.
School Board member Matt Burgess said the board hired a demographer to help with enrollment projections and asked if it would be better to wait before making any decisions.
RSP and Associates, a firm based in Overland Park, Kan., was hired in January to do an enrollment analysis and attendance boundary analysis at a cost of $60,000. The results will be presented at May’s School Board meeting.
Burgess also questioned whether it would be better to add space to the school or begin talking about building a third high school in the district. He noted one of West’s advantages is it offers a smaller school allowing students to be more engaged. He hesitates to add more students, Burgess said.
Bentonville High School, the district’s original high school, had 3,066 students as of Oct. 1 and is at 81.7% of its capacity of 3,750 students, according to spokeswoman Leslee Wright.
The district needs to move forward with approving professional services for the expansion in order to stay on the timeline, Wallace said. Procuring material has become very difficult and has to be done months in advance, he said. The school will have to get approval for the project from the state facilities division, the city and state fire marshal, and the Centerton planning commission before construction can begin, he added.
The School Board won’t commit to the expansion until it approves a guaranteed maximum price next fall and will be able to pivot or put the brakes on the expansion until then, Wallace said.
It takes a three- to four-year planning process to building a high school, including gathering input from the community, said Superintendent Debbie Jones. It’s still unclear which part of the city will see the most population growth, she said.
“In short, the discussion about the new high school with the public is really two to three years out now,” she said.
A third high school could cost an estimated $115 million to $120 million, while the addition to West High School could cost approximately $20 million, said Janet Schwanhausser, deputy superintendent and chief financial officer.
Considering the tremendous amount of growth in the community, board member Kelly Carlson said he feels now is the time to move forward with the expansion, regardless of the results of the demographic study.
Tennie Russell Primary School
Renovation to Russell is also in the works. School Board members, except Carlson, who recused, voted in favor of contracts with Hight Jackson Associates for architectural services and Crossland Construction for construction management services for the project.
The preschool received a $259,000 American Rescue Plan Act grant, generated by the federal Department of Human Services, for early childhood facilities, Wallace said. The grant money will partner with district funding for the project, he said. The school serves 3- and 4-year-old students and is part of the Arkansas Better Chance for School Success program.
The school is licensed for 259 students and grant funding is based on enrollment, Principal Lori Passmore said.
Much of the money will be spent on safety improvements, saidPassmore, who applied for the grant.
The updates will include renovation to the front office for a more secure entry; replacement of classroom sink counters with a solid surface; updated security cameras and fire alarm notification systems; technology updates; classroom furniture replacements and additions; and the replacement exterior sheathing and composite panel material, Wallace said.
A guaranteed maximum price will be brought to the board this spring and renovation is expected to begin this summer, once the grant money has been secured, according to School Board documents. The renovation is expected to be complete in October or November.
Thomas Jefferson Elementary School
Board members unanimously approved a guaranteed maximum price of $1.59 million for phase II of the Jefferson renovation.
The updates will include the addition of an awning; new storefront glass, doors and metal panels at the cafeteria; kitchen renovation with equipment replacements, paint, new ceiling and epoxy floor; asbestos abatement in the cafeteria and stage areas; and exterior west sidewalk and parking lot resurfacing.
The project is scheduled to be completed in July.
Phase I of the renovation was completed last summer. Highlights of the project included new phones and access door controls; a new roof, insulation, gutters and downspouts; the replacement of courtyard glass storefront windows and doors; exterior brick seal and painting and three new heating and air units.
Sugar Creek Elementary School
School Board members unanimously approved a guaranteed maximum price of $1.39 million for updates to Sugar Creek.
The renovation is to be done by Flintco and will include exterior recoating and sealing; kitchen renovation and equipment repairs; interior door hardware upgrades; updates to the mechanical and plumbing in the kindergarten wing; and new mill work and cubbies in the first through fourth grade classrooms.
The project is scheduled to be completed this summer.
A new roof, insulation, gutters and downspouts were installed at the school in summer 2020 at a cost of $900,000.
