By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
Most of the $31.5 million budgeted for Sylvan Hills Middle School in Sherwood has been spent and the school is on track to open in August after the Education Department told the Pulaski County Special School District to finish the nearly completed facility.
But Derek Scott, chief operating officer for PCSSD, said the fate of new construction projects, such as the three new schools planned for Jacksonville, remains unclear while the state Education Department is in control of the district.
“Our main focus and main priority is to get schools open and in a better condition than when they closed for the 2010-11 school year,” Scott said. “At some point after that, the new superintendent in coordination with the ADE (Arkansas Department of Education) will determine what our future construction plans look like.”
Scott said projects for which bids have already been awarded won’t be delayed.
He added that it wouldn’t savemoney to put a hold on already-under way construction. Once a bid is awarded, the district has a legal contract with a company to pay for work done, usually in installments based on how much progress is made with a percentage withheld as a precaution in case work is completely done by final inspection.
Scott also said the cost, in the long run, would be greater if a project was stopped and resumed later.
As for the 189,000-square-foot facility on 44 acres off Johnson Road in Sherwood, two pods will be open for classes in August. A pod is an area with its own lobby, bathrooms, classrooms and more. Each grade level — sixth, seventh and eighth — will have a pod.
Half the eighth-graders will go to the sixth-grade pod and half will go to the seventh-grade pod until the third pod is completed in October.
The capacity of the two pods that will be completed by the time school starts is about 800 and Principal Jo Wilcox has told Scott she expects about that many students to be enrolled this fall.
When finished, the facility could house up to about 1,320, Scott said.
Former board member and Sherwood resident Gloria Lawrence said, “I’m excited and can hardly wait for it to open. It’s something Sherwood can be proud of.”
Scott emphasized that the project is within budget and on track, despite an electric subcontractor walking off the job and issues with the site.
He said Baldwin and Shell have been “working miracles” to stay on schedule. The company found an “awesome” replacement for the subcontractor who fixed problems the other left and caught up on the work.
The site was found to have a lot of rock in the dirt. Baldwin and Shell sifted that soil and used the rock to build up the low part of the hill, Scott said.
The $31.5 million is a guaranteed maximum price from the construction company, so these bumps in the road didn’t cause the project to go over budget.
Finishing touches and things cited in the initial inspection are being completed now. Furniture will be delivered in mid-July.
Sylvan Hills Middle School at 401 Dee Jay Hudson Drive in Sherwood, which will be closed when the new building opens, was built in the 1950s and is one of the oldest schools in the district.
The main advantages of the new facility will be its size and its capacity to accommodate more technology, such as the campus supporting wireless Internet, having three computer labs (0ne for each pod), Promethean-brand interactive whiteboards, iPads, a classroom set of laptops for teachers to check in and out and a desktop computer for every teacher.
Derrick Brown, chief information officer for PCSSD, said all orders have been placed and that equipment will be delivered in mid-July. The state takeover has not affected the school receiving any of those items.
“This school as well as Maumelle High School will have the fastest Internet service on the statewide Department of Information Systems network. Ninety-five percent of (Arkansas) schools have Internet through that.”
He added that the service at these facilities will set a standard for other schools later.
The new $62 million Maumelle High School that can hold up to 1,500 students is also on schedule and within budget. The school will be open for classes this fall, but the auditorium will not be completed in mid-November.
Construction of both the auditorium and the school’s stadium were bid out separately from the school and construction of the stadium won’t be finished by August.
Students will miss the first two home games of the season, but Scott said it was a necessary sacrifice.
“The delay of the award of the stadium was the right move to make sure the overall project was on budget,” Brown added.
