FARMINGTON -- Farmington School District will look at two major construction projects during the next three to five years: an addition at the junior high and expanding Folsom Elementary School.
Superintendent Bryan Law has updated School Board members on the projects during monthly board meetings.
The district will submit its newest Master Academic Facilities Plan by Feb. 1 to the Arkansas Department of Education, and that plan will request partnership funding for a 23,000-square-foot addition to the junior high and adding four to six classrooms at Folsom for the 2021-23 funding cycle.
Law said the district qualifies for state assistance to help build 23,000 square feet at the junior high but does not qualify for Folsom.
"Folsom does not have a lot of growth," Law said. "Most of our (student) growth is in the mid-grades and going up. Therefore, getting funding for the elementary school will be more difficult."
Law said the district will try to show the need for more classrooms at Folsom because of new housing starts in Farmington and future developments, but "I'm not sure they'll listen to that."
Folsom has not outgrown its space yet but it is at capacity, Law said.
Farmington Junior High is at capacity and needs more space, Law said.
School officials are proposing to tear down the oldest gym at the junior high, along with office space and some of the locker rooms and replace it with an addition to provide 10 general classrooms, an art room, self-contained classroom, choir room, two science classrooms and office space.
The facilities report submitted to the state is only a schematic plan, not blueprints. Law said school officials, architects and others are still discussing specifics of the new building.
The hope was to be able to connect the new addition to the main junior high building, but Law said that may not happen because of drainage issues. Another question is whether to have a one-story or two-story building.
"We're working on all that," Law said.
He said the district also is considering more space for the junior high cafeteria.
Law told board members in October that it's "great to have progress" but also a "little sad."
Except for the administration building, the old gym is the last of the school district's oldest facilities.
"That old gym has been here a long time," Law said.
At Folsom, the district is proposing to add new classrooms onto the second-grade wing of the building. If this project is not approved for any state funding, then the school district will have to pay 100% of the costs.
General News on 12/11/2019