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Voters in the DeLeon ISD will be asked on
May 12, to approve $8 million in school bonds to construct a new high
school and make other renovations and improvements to all other
district facilities.
Improvements included will be a major
remodel of the DeLeon Elementary School, including the construction of
new classrooms for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.
Improvements at the Perkins Middle school
will focus on fire and safety issues, including the installation of a
new fire alarm system and providing fire rated corridors for the
building.
The proposed new high school would be
built at the existing high school site and would have over 41,000
square feet of space. The new facility would include a total of 18 new
classrooms, a new high school library, and new a cafetorium with a
performance stage and seating for 250 at tables and chairs or 500 in
an assembly formation.
While the overall cost of the project is
approximately $8.110 million, the district is committed to using
district funds that had been previously allocated by the Board for
future renovations and construction. These funds would also be
utilized to accommodate any contingencies and project cost increases
that might occur.
The district is in a unique position to
allow district taxpayers to experience a total tax-rate decrease, even
with the approval of the bond proposal. Due to recent legislation
passed by the state, local taxpayers will see another tax-rate
decrease in their local property taxes. This decrease mandated by the
state would offset the rate increase required for the bond proposal
and would still allow the local tax-payer to see an approximate $0.04
total tax rate decrease.
Additionally, pending approval from the
state legislature, the district would be eligible for forty percent of
the district’s debt payments to be paid by the State of Texas.
If the district does not receive state
assistance for the projects, the Board and the district have pledged
to not go forward with the project.
The current high school was constructed
in the early 1950s with additions being constructed in 1965, 1979, and
1994, and has academic space of approximately 34,400 square feet that
is currently being utilized. With a typical educational building
having a life span of fifty years, the timetable for constructing a
new facility is not off schedule for the district.
The decision to take such actions was a
result of the district’s efforts over the past eight months to closely
examine the current condition of the district’s facilities and then,
based on ideas and recommendations of a district facility committee,
to deal with the identified issues. A master study for district
facilities was authorized by the Board and was conducted by the
District’s architects, CADCO Architects and Engineers, Inc. of
Abilene.
CADCO completed a comprehensive study of
the existing facilities to determine if the buildings were up to state
code for educational facilities, and then they began developing
facility solutions to identified needs. The results of that study led
the Board to direct CADCO to begin developing specific answers to the
needs, including a new high school and all other renovations to the
other two campuses.
The Board reviewed various facility
solutions before arriving on the final solutions to address the needs
of the district. While some plans called for the utilization of some
of the original high school facility, the decision was made that it
would be more cost efficient to maximize the construction of a new
facility to provide additional needed space and provide a
comprehensive long-term solution to the facility needs of the
district.
The final blueprints that will be used to
construct any new facilities will meet all educational facility
standards that have been established by the Texas Education Agency,
including requirements for classrooms to be a specific size, based on
the number of students served.
If approved by the voters on May 12, the
new high school facility would have a different orientation than the
existing facility by turning the front of the campus 90 degrees to the
north, and utilizing Johnson Street as the major access point for the
high school from Hwy. 6. The new facility would also sit in close
proximity to the new gym.
While the district had hoped to situate
the new high school as close as possible to the competition gym,
utilities in the street, particularly a gas line running near the gym,
had to be taken into consideration. Steps will be taken to move a
water line to accommodate the building’s placement.
The bond proposal is not limited to
strictly being about a new high school. Improvements will also be made
to the existing Perkins Middle School and the DeLeon Elementary School
campuses.
Perkins Middle School will get needed
improvements to increase the level of safety for the campus, including
upgrading hallways to fire-rated corridor standards and the
installation of a new fire alarm system. Certain non-classrooms would
be reconfigured to serve as regular academic classrooms.
The DeLeon Elementary School would see
significant remodeling and expansion if the project is approved. The
elementary campus would gain a new kindergarten and pre-kindergarten
building constructed to house four new classrooms that meet state
requirements for those grade levels.
The greatest change would be seen in
having the elementary campus, except for the cafeteria and gym,
completely enclosed in one structure. A new front entrance would be
constructed to allow for greater security for the entire campus.
Throughout the rest of the building, remodeling would take place which
would include the installment of new heating and air conditioning
systems to replace the current inefficient wall-pack units,
installation of windows in the 1960s part of the building, and
renovations for campus offices and reception.
While nothing can occur without the
approval of the bond by voters and the appropriation of state facility
money by the state, the district will next form a planning committee
to work out all of the fine details for the changes.
The schematic drawings are only the
starting point for the district. These drawings give the district a
definite amount of square footage with which to work, but the fine
details of the plans will be done in consultation with faculty and
staff of the district working together in conjunction with the
administration and the district’s architect.
The district will be holding public
information meetings in the coming weeks to discuss the bond proposal
and to answer questions from citizens and parents concerning the
proposal. Additional information about the proposal can also be found
on the school district’s website,
www.deleon.esc14.net. |
