School board members informally agreed that a new school administration building should be the district's next construction project during a meeting on Wednesday afternoon and voted to authorize Superintendent Jody Wiggins to begin negotiations to purchase land for the potential development.
Board members discussed the best way to use the money the district is saving by refinancing two bonds during the two-hour special meeting and work session. The new school administration building was one of three projects Wiggins presented to school board members. Other options were a new baseball, softball and tennis facility, and an indoor athletic facility.
"All of these issues have been with us for a while and we have been hoping and planning," Wiggins said. "I see we have the ability to address one, possibly quickly, and then prioritize the other two so that as we get money we can hopefully, possibly address all of them."
The school is saving a total of $4.69 million over the next 20 years by reissuing the bond and most of the savings -- a total of $2.1 million -- will be realized this year.
State laws only allow the school district to carry a 20 percent budget surplus from one year to the next and anything over 20 percent must be put in the building fund and designated for a use, Wiggins said. The district was already close to the 20 percent threshold before the savings on the bond payments were realized, he said.
The district already has $1 million in its building fund that hasn't been designated for future projects, chief financial officer Terry Raskiewicz said. She projected the school could end the year with an additional $500,000 in budget savings, but there are still several wild cards that could change the amount, she said.
"The money we have in savings this year, in and of itself, won't cover any one of the proposals," Wiggins said.
Over the past few decades the district has added and renovated schools and the district is currently at a point where the needs for academic spaces are being met, he said. The district has also recently upgraded the transportation and food service facilities, he said.
Building a 12,000- to 15,000-square-foot administrative building is projected to cost between $2.4 and $3 million, according to documents Wiggins presented to the board. The district would need to purchase a minimum of two acres of land for the project.
Currently, the district has two central office buildings on Dogwood Street and additional administrative offices are housed at buildings throughout the district. One of the buildings on Dogwood Street was purchased in 1986 and the other was purchased in the early 2000s. Both were renovated in 2011, Wiggins said.
A larger administrative office would allow departments such as special education, English as a second language, gifted and talented, and nursing to join the departments currently housed at the existing central office, he said. Presently, when the district has administrative team meetings they have to travel to one of the school buildings, he said.
The maintenance and transportation departments would not likely move because they have recently renovated space tailored to their needs, he said.
"Pulling everyone else together under one roof would help us with communication and consistency across all our departments," Wiggins said.
Shane Patrick, director of operations, said the district would like any administrative space to last for at least 30 to 50 years and handle immediate growth for the next 10 to 15 years, with possible expansion after that time.
Adding the proposed baseball, tennis and softball facility on the 12 acres of land north of the high school the district purchased for that purpose in 2018 would cost an estimated $2.5 to $3.5 million, according to the documents. It would include baseball and softball fields with lighting and bleachers with seating for 150 people, as well as eight tennis courts, restrooms, a concession stand, custodial closet and a parking lot.
The district currently uses city baseball and softball fields for practice and games, and uses John Brown University's tennis courts, he said.
The proposed indoor athletic facility would be attached to the current football fieldhouse and would cost an estimated $2.5 to $5 million, the board documents state. It would include a 65- by 60-yard turf area; rooms for training, cheer practice, weight lifting and equipment storage; men's and women's locker rooms; retractable batting cages; and a film deck.
At the end of the two-hour discussion, board members asked Wiggins for his recommendation.
"If you are asking me, for efficiency of the district and our overarching goal of teaching and educating kids, I think the administrative office is something we direly need to pull us together as a district and get a more cohesive team and plan in place for the education of kids," Wiggins said. "That's not discrediting baseball, tennis, softball or the indoor facility either. I think all of those things have great benefit to our kids and our community."
Board members Grant Loyd, Connie Matchell, Travis Jackson and Audra Farrell spoke in favor of working on the administrative office first and making the softball, baseball and tennis complex the second priority and the indoor practice facility the third priority. Board President Brian Lamb said he needed more time to consider the possibilities.
"I think we've kicked that can down the road to whenever, whenever, whenever for years. I can attest to the fact that it would be very, very helpful to have everybody in one spot," said Matchell, who worked as a district administrator before retiring in 2015.
Lamb said he appreciates the sacrifice administrators have made over the years.
"Everybody realizes that kids come first but at some point, like you are saying, (building a new administrative office has) got to happen," he said.
Jackson pointed out that students will benefit from administrators working more cohesively together.
"I think as Jody said, in the grand scheme of things, all the kids will benefit from something like this, so kids do come first, so that is a way we can look at it," he said.
All of the board members, including Lamb, encouraged Wiggins to move forward with negotiating the purchase of land for a possible administrative office. Once an offer has been accepted on a real estate deal, it will go before the board for final approval, Wiggins said.
General News on 02/23/2020