Crowded Southwestern High to build addition

By SUSAN WHEELDON, CJ Staff Writer
Commonwealth Journal

September 04, 2008 06:08 am

— To help ease overcrowding at Southwestern High School, a new addition is in the works that, when finished, will primarily be used as a freshman center.
“It’s worked out well,” said Boyd Randolph, principal of Southwestern High School, of the project. “We’re at seam-busting conditions.”
Randolph said when he became principal in 2001, there were 979 students and the school was really at capacity at that point. The school continued to grow, he said, to the point that in 2007-2008, there were 1,248 students enrolled.
“We’ve grown in number by 20 percent or better,” said Randolph.
Randolph said an addition was put on the facility plan as a priority need several years ago, when school officials realized the numbers of younger students were continually growing.
“As our population continued to increase, the expansion moved up on the priority list,” said Randolph.
Last year the district was able to put an expansion at Southwestern as one of the top two priorities.
Randolph explained that currently there are 10 teachers at the school who move from room to room to teach their classes because the school does not have enough classrooms, and six other special education teachers who collaborate with teachers who also don’t have rooms.
“There are a lot of kids and a little space,” said Randolph.
To help in the process of planning for future needs at the school, an instructional leadership group made up of the department heads, building administrators, the head custodian and the cafeteria manager have been collaborating on the needs of the school.
The addition will include 17 classrooms, an elevator, a cafeteria, an overlay to the existing student parking, a band practice area, as well as a press box and bleachers.
“It will give us the opportunity to create a ninth grade wing,” said Randolph. “The advantages of that from a social and developmental view are too much to say it doesn’t work. It does.”
Randolph said the current structure does not allow such a setup.
The principal explained that data they have found, along with data from Pulaski County High School, which implemented a freshman center five years ago, helped make the decision.
“We’ve always had transition protocol so freshmen transition and receive attention, but this will be a more ninth grade-friendly environment,” said Randolph.
Setting aside the space for freshmen will also allow the school to provide for the needs of the upperclassmen, Randolph said.
As for other renovations, Superintendent Tim Eaton said there were other items the leadership team decided were needed.
“When you get into a 15-year-old building, upgrades in all capacities need to be looked at,” said Eaton.
Renovations will be on the art marketing and store area, administration area, existing tech lab, existing chemistry lab and science classrooms, cafeteria and serving areas, as well as replacement of two water heaters and a completely new roof. Also, there will be technology upgrades that will include interactive boards, projectors, white boards and speakers and a web based control system.
“The entire building will get a facelift,” said Randolph.
Through the addition, the cafeteria will almost double in size, Randolph explained, which will make it easier to have a somewhat more normal lunch schedule. He said currently every two minutes they have a class coming and going in the cafeteria, but when the new addition to the cafeteria is built, they should be able to have more set lunch periods with a short break in between each designated lunch time.
As for the addition of the bleachers, after completion, the school should be able to accommodate around 3,000 people.
“The bleachers don’t accommodate the crowd and the press box is too small,” said Steve Butcher, assistant superintendent.
After beginning work toward the project in February, Butcher said they are trying to finalize the layout of the of the plan now and the school system hopes to sell bonds for the approximately $14 million project in January 2009.
Butcher said construction should take between 15 and 18 months.
“We hope to have the project complete by August 2010 ... and we don’t think there is any reason to think we can’t,” said Butcher.
Randolph added that though they will use the new space as a freshman center, the design of the new addition is not restrictive if they needed to change how it is used in the future.

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