Earle still on target to build new school

Earle still on target to build new school

District eyeing end of school year for groundbreaking for new elementary school despite fiscal distress status, state takeover

news@theeveningtimes.com

Earle School District is hoping to break ground on its new elementary school in June.

State appointed Superintendent Dr. Richard Wilde told the city council that rain has delayed progress some, but they have already started on asbestos removal and will be tearing down the buildings soon.

“Asbestos is being removed from that one building next to the cafeteria and will be coming down,” Wilde said. “Then we will start on the demolition.”

Voters approved a 10 mil increase last year to fund a new $7 million, 42,000 square foot elementary school.

The new building will have 18 classrooms, a computer lab, media lab, art and music rooms, and office space for school staff.

The old building was built in the 1950s and has reached the end of its usefulness.

The new structure will put all of the students under one roof. The current campus had several outbuildings which require students to go outside to get to some classes.

Plans call for demolition of the existing school building and several outbuildings. The district will keep the gymnasium and cafeteria.

Wilde said they will also be putting together a sample wall up this summer to show the citizens what the outside will look like.

The district will be using a brick veneer on the outside of the school instead of real brick due to budget constraints.

“It’s called net brick,” Wilde said. “It looks very similar to brick but it is not brick. It is a concrete product. It was part of our value engineering because we had to reduce costs.”

By Mark Randall