Building the future

Staff

Published Sunday, June 23, 2002

Features Editor

The Pike County Board of Education voted June 17 to demolished the two-story brick school building on the Pike County High School campus and build a new facility.

Linda Steed, a 17-year veteran board member, said she was thrilled to death by the board's decision to build a new facility school than renovate the facility which was built in 1948,

"One of my goals has been to provide our students with a substantial learning environment,"

Steed said. "I am proud to be a part of providing a better learning environment for our kids. I believe this new building will change the way our school is perceived. So many people judge Pike County High School by its outward appearance. Although it's not what's on the outside that counts, it's what's on the inside, people still judge us by the outward appearance of our school without ever going inside."

Steed said the board of education wants what is best for the students of Pike County and a new building will go a long way in improving the perception of the school and in improving student morale and instilling pride in the school.

Mayor Jimmy Ramage agreed that a new building will improve the image of the school and the Brundidge community.

"Pike County High School has always provided quality education for its students," he said. "It's not fair for a school to be judged by the condition of the building, but too often it is. People seem to forget that this old two-story building is the same one that produced highly successful and productive citizens in all walks of life. Dr. Ed Richardson, state superintendent of education, and John Faircloth, president of the Alabama Independent School Association, both are graduates of Pike County High School. I don't know of any other high school that has that distinction. A new school will be indicative of to the educational process that is going on in Brundidge. Now, we'll be outstanding outside and in."

Herbert Reynolds, chairman of the county board of education, was equally enthusiastic about the new building for the high school campus.

"This will give our kids a boost in morale and I know the board's decision to build a new building instead of renovating it was the right one. I've been harping on the need to provide our students with a good learning environment for a long time. I'm very pleased with the decision."

The original plans had been to renovate the two-story building.

However, in evaluating the 28,000-square foot building, Dr. Mark Bazzell, assistant superintendent of education,

said the board realized that amount of space is not needed to accommodate the future needs of the school's student population.

Plans are under way to build a new building to replace the 1923 elementary building on the high school campus.

"With that new building, we just won't need a

28,000-square foot building," Bazzell said. "That new building will house the high school's media center, science department, distance learning center and business and finance academy, therefore, a smaller building will be adequate to meet our other classroom needs."

Bazzell said a new 17,000-square foot building will cost only slightly more than the renovation of the old building.

The cost of a new building will be about $1 million while the cost of renovation would be around $800,000. A new building will be much more energy efficient, the assistant superintendent said.

"The new building will have seven classrooms, a computer lab and administrative and guidance offices," Bazzell said. "It will be similar in architectural design to the building that will replace the old elementary school. The building project will be financed through a local bond issue and will also include new parking areas and driveways. It will be

a very attractive facility."

When the old high school building is demolished, Brundidge will be without a two-story school building for as long as anyone can remember. The students who moved into the modern double-decker building in 1948, moved from a two-story building on schoolhouse hill. But, the skyline of education in Brundidge will not change immediately. There is other work to be done first.

This project will be in addition to three other projects on the drawing board for the Pike County School System.

Bazzell said the board's capital plan was driven by three things. Number one is what the board must do to satisfy the courts and the Lee vs. Macon County Consent Decree negotiations in order to achieve unitary status in all areas. The plan calls, first, for the elimination of all portable buildings.

"Gov. Siegelman signed an executive order in 1998 that created a bond issue for the elimination of portable buildings and substandard classrooms," he said. "Our plan calls for the construction and/or renovation that will take care of both.

"We have four building projects and they must be done in sequence, The reason is that we don't want to have to buy portable buildings to house students while the projects are under way.

So, the first building project will be at Goshen Elementary School."

Twelve new classrooms will be built on the GES elementary school campus, eliminating portable and substandard classrooms. The sixth grade will be moved back from the high school campus to the elementary school thus eliminating the need for portable classrooms on that campus.

"With that project, we will eliminate portable and substandard classrooms at at our Goshen schools," Bazzell said. "After the project is reviewed by the building committee and we receive pre-clearance from the justice department, we will be ready to enter into the bid process."

The Goshen project will be financed by the 1998 bond issue at an estimated cost of $1 million and could be completed during the summer of 2003.

Bazzell said hopes are that the Goshen project and the "first" new building project at Pike County High School can be in progress at about the same time.

The estimated cost of the new building, which will replace the old elementary school on the PCHS campus, is between $1.4 and $1.6 million and will be financed through the 1998 bond issue and a local bond issue.

The third project will be the demolition of the two-story building on the PCHS campus and the construction of the new facility.

Bazzell said that project will not begin until the "first" building project is completed.

"The students will be housed in the first new building during construction on the second," he said. "However, there is a possibility that we might have to bring in portable classrooms to accommodate the students."

The fourth project the country board of education has on the drawing board is at Pike County Elementary School. Those plans include interior and exterior painting, improvement to lighting and new floor coverings. Those renovations will also be funded through a local bond issue.

"We have plans for other improvements, but what we can do will depend on how much we can afford without overextending ourselves," Bazzell said.

Those plans include the elimination of substandard and portable classrooms at the Banks schools and renovation of the Goshen High School gymnasium to meet the current needs of the school.  

 

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