Seven projects slated for school system's $60 million four-year plan

By Cliff McCollum
Posted 7/18/17

At the July 18 Baldwin County Board of Education work session, Superintendent Eddie Tyler presented a $60 million four-year construction proposal that includes seven projects across the …

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Seven projects slated for school system's $60 million four-year plan

Posted

At the July 18 Baldwin County Board of Education work session, Superintendent Eddie Tyler presented a $60 million four-year construction proposal that includes seven projects across the county.

“We feel like this is a win for our taxpayers and our school system,” Tyler said.

The proposal includes:

- A 12 classroom addition, additional parking and larger gymnasium at Gulf Shores Elementary that is slated to start construction Feb. 2018 and be completed Oct. 2018 at a total cost of $3,806,330. The expansion would also move 121 students to the newly-proposed Orange Beach K-8 that would create an additional six classrooms at Gulf Shores Middle School.

The project would require some wetland mitigation near the school before any new construction could begin on the site.

BCBE member Angie Swiger had several suggestions for changes to the building design, which Baldwin County Schools’ Maintenance and Facility Coordinator Frank Boatwright said could be possible.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff to tweak here,” Boatwright said. “This is very preliminary.”

- An addition of a middle school (seventh and eighth grade) to Orange Beach Elementary that will include a gym and cafe slated to start Dec. 2017 at a cost of $6,340,660. Possible student relocation to the new middle school could be as soon as August 2018.

- A new Foley elementary K-6 school with a capacity for 1,200 students to help reduce overcrowding at the current Foley Elementary School. Construction is slated to start in Jan. 2018 and be completed by March 2019 at a cost of $15,550,000.

“Foley Elementary is the largest elementary school in the state of Alabama, and it only goes through fourth grade,” Tyler said. “We're hoping this can help take some pressure off, but we’re excited about this project.”

- A 35 classroom addition, new cafeteria, administrative offices and media center for the K-6 expansion at Bay Minette Elementary School slated to start Feb. 2018 at a cost of $9,357,000.

The board approved the merger of Bay Minette Elementary and Bay Minette Middle School at a previous meeting.

North Baldwin BCBE member David Cox raised the issue that it would only cost the system a few more million to construct a brand new school instead of just an addition.

“It’s still an old building we’ve already redone once,” Cox said. “In the grand scheme of things, considering it will put us in good shape for years to come, it makes sense to move forward with a new facility.”

Tyler told Cox the growth didn’t support a brand new school for that pattern at this time.

“This really comes down to growth,” Tyler said. “In the last 20 years, the growth just hasn’t been there.”

BCBE President Shannon Cauley agreed with Tyler’s assessment.

“In this plan, we’ve got two brand new schools that are going in,” Cauley said. “While the situation going in may not be ideal for everyone, it is a compromise solution that everyone can get on board with. The growth doesn’t lend to a brand new school in Bay Minette right now. Building a new elementary school in Bay Minette just isn’t supported by that growth right now.”

- A K-6 expansion at Fairhope Middle School that will include a 14 classroom addition and new gymnasium slated to start in April 2018 at a cost of $4,015,000.

Fairhope BCBE board member Cecil Christenberry said he and other Fairhope residents were excited about moving forward with the project.

“The city is very excited about what is going on with our feeder pattern,” Christenberry said. “I think we’re doing a great job about working together and trying to find ways to move things forward as best we can.”

- A new K-6 elementary school to be placed somewhere in the Eastern Shore along the 181 corridor with the capacity for 1,200 students. The system has not yet announced where the school will be placed, but the cost expectation, not including land cost, is currently $15,400,000.

Tyler said the system had been talking to different people about land to put the potential school on, but there were no concrete plan at this point.

“There are just some moving parts right now that we’re not going to commit to,” Tyler said. “We still are looking at the project, but land is the problem. It’s just kind of a moving target right now. Because it’s just such an exploding area and that 900 home subdivision coming in over a period of time, it’s just a need we have.”

- A 14 classroom expansion and parking addition to Daphne Middle School at a cost of $2,752,200.

The Phase 3 proposal would create additional capacity for approximately 4,300 students across the county, with nearly 330,000 total square feet of new construction.

BCBE board members David Tarwater and Cox raised issues about the city of Daphne potentially splitting off and forming their own school system, but system officials said they had taken steps to make sure any Daphne projects would have debt attached to them that the city would have to take on if they formed their own system.

Christenberry said he was saddened that the system was having to make decisions based on political issues like potential city school splits.

“As a board, I want us to be concerned about the students and the teachers, and it’s sad to me when the politics hurts that,” Christenberry said. “I hate we have to make decisions about our children over the politics of some adults.”

The system was able to reduce overall design fees by $480,000.

“We were able to drop the fee percentage by about 2 percent by partnering with local firms to do the design work,” Baldwin County Schools CFO John Wilson said.

The total estimated construction costs for the entire phase are $57,221,190, with an estimated interest cost of $2.3 million.

Tyler said the plan was ambitious but he felt the system was moving in a positive direction.

“We’re just getting started,” Tyler said. “In 22 months, 16 pay as you go projects in 22 months where we didn’t have squat before then. And we’re going to keep going.”

Baldwin County Commission Chairman Chris Elliott said he felt the plan was an adequate way to address the needs of a growing school system.

“The level of honest, open communication and cooperation between the school board and the commission really affords this kind of innovative, outside-of-the-box problem solving,” Elliott said. “It helps to get us where we need to be, but within our means and at incredibly low interest rates solving the problems of the school system with absolutely no additional revenue. That’s an elegant solution.”