PG Junior High Will Become Middle School

PRAIRIE GROVE -- Looking at projected growth over the next 10 years, Prairie Grove School Board, in a special meeting last week, agreed to add another wing to its new building under construction and decided to reconfigure grades, with the new school to be used now as a middle school, instead of a junior high campus.

Pick-it Construction Co., contractor for the new school, will have documents ready for approval for the new wing at the school board's July meeting, according to Superintendent Reba Holmes.

David Kellogg, assistant superintendent, said the new wing will be built on the south side of the school and will have about 11,500 square feet for nine classrooms, restrooms, a data room and mechanical room.

The school's construction plans already included an 18,000-square-foot pad for future expansion. Kellogg said school officials just did not expect to need some of the pad so soon.

School officials estimate the wing will cost about $2.3 million. The district has been approved by the state to use $1 million of its federal covid-relief money for the wing and the rest will come from district funds.

Holmes emailed a letter to school faculty last week to give them an update on the changes.

Holmes pointed out Prairie Grove is projected to grow by 6.15% annually for the foreseeable future.

"How do we prepare for that growth and act in a fiscally prudent manner to maximize our funds?" Holmes wrote in the letter.

She said she posed the question to district leadership, and the team came up with a 10-year facilities plan to present to the board.

"After discussing all of the pros and cons of making a change order to the existing new Junior High Building, it was determined (by the board) that because of the growth of our town and projected enrollment growth for the upcoming years, we would need to be proactive with our construction to make needed space on all four campuses without having to go out and build another new school campus," Holmes said in the letter.

Holmes said the elementary school has the greatest need for more space at this time. By adding a new wing to the new school under construction, the district will be able to move fourth grade to that building, making it a middle school for fourth-sixth grades, Holmes said.

This change order has been approved by the Arkansas Department of Education, Holmes said.

During the special meeting, Holmes told board members the new school will be a good fit for middle school students because it will not have lockers and the gym will not have bleachers.

When the new school opens in August 2022, the configuration for grades will be:

• A pre-kindergarten center on Ed Staggs Drive.

• Kindergarten-third grade in the elementary school on Viney Grove Road.

• A middle school for grades 4-6 in the new building on Bush Street across from the high school.

• Grades 7-8 in the building on Mock Street (the current middle school).

• Grades 9-12 in the high school on Cole Drive.

Next year, the district will seek approval from the education department to add a new 9th-grade wing to the current middle school on Mock Street.

Kellogg said the school is proposing to add 29,000 square feet that will replace the old eighth-grade building. It's possible the addition will be ready for the 2023-24 school year, but Kellogg said he is "more confident" it will be ready for the 2024-25 school year.

The district will apply for state partnership money to help with the costs of a junior high wing, and Kellogg said he's been told the school has an "extremely high chance" of getting the money. Prairie Grove will not find out until May 2022 if it is approved for the state money.

When this wing opens, the ninth grade will move to the junior high, and the high school campus will have students in 10th-12th grades.

Holmes told her faculty, "By acting now, we will save money, add two wings instead of an additional campus and not have to ask for a millage for the needed classroom space."