By JEFFREY SMITH
Leader staff writer
Construction of the Cabot School District’s $26 million Freshman Academy for ninth- graders continues to take shape. The new school, set to open for the start of the 2014-15 year, will offer more than 212,000 square feet of space.
The roof is up on the main building. Some of classrooms are almost finished with lighting and heat and air conditioning installed. All that is needed is furniture and cabinetry. Other classrooms are in bare concrete cinder block.
Metal and brickwork are being installed in the gym, while the concrete pad for the cafeteria and fine arts building has been poured.
Freshman Academy may give a sense of déjà vu to those who have seen the high school’s high entryway ceiling, although the new school has a single story instead of two.
The office and the counseling center are located in the same place as they are in the high school’s layout.
“The front entrance mirrors the high school,” said Tonya Spillane, the fifth- through ninth-grade curriculum director.
Superintendent Tony Thurman said there are several reasons why the design of the Freshman Academy and the high school are similar.
“The layout of the high school building has worked well for our students and faculty. We did not believe it was necessary to have major changes when what we’ve already constructed has worked great,” Thurman said.
The same architect who designed the high school also designed Freshman Academy.
Thurman said only some minor changes were needed for the overall layout of the new school. That saved the district time and money.
The district has attempted to use the same facade style at Junior High North, Cabot High School, Panther Arena and the cafeteria and the Freshman Academy.
“We have aesthetically pleasing facilities but have focused on spending more funds on the interior of the buildings including the classrooms and media center rather than going overboard on the exterior,” Thurman said.
He noted that the color of the concrete block used at the new school buildings is now marketed by the building supply vendor as “Cabot Red.”
Freshman Academy will have an area for meetings and presentations. The media center will have research labs. A courtyard will separate the main building from the gym and cafeteria. The gym will be similar the one at Junior High North, which has bleachers on one side.
The cafeteria and fine arts center will be combined into one building with a built-in stage. Also, two lunch periods are planned.
Freshman Academy will have more than 50 classrooms for about 800 students. Some classrooms will have soundproof partitioned walls similar to those found in a convention center. The walls can be opened for collaborative learning.
Eight science rooms will be half classroom and half lab. The school will also have a wing for career- and technical-training classes.
Deputy Superintendent Harold Jeffcoat, who oversees new construction projects, said he is confident the project will be completed by next school year.
Jeffcoat said the exterior walls and roof were built first to get the building “in the dry” to allow masons to work on interior walls when it rains. Thurman said he was, “Very pleased with the progress on the Freshman Academy. We are slightly ahead of schedule, and that is very positive. We have a strong district supervisor on the construction site that also supervised construction of the high school. The rate at which the building is being constructed is great, but I’m most pleased with the quality of construction.”