WMSD construction getting closer to completion

By Billy Woods

WM School District

New construction is happening at many schools in the West Memphis School District and the completion dates are very near.

Eight of the 11 schools in West Memphis are undergoing major construction projects and all appear to be on schedule for completion soon.

The crown jewel of the major project is Bragg Elementary, which will get an entire brand new building on time for the start of classes in August of this year. The whole project is expected to be completed by July 1.

"Our contractor is expected to turn over the building to us by the end of June," said Clint Byard, director of facilities for the WMSD. "By June 1 we have to have Bragg's cafeteria building completely emptied and have the current building ready for demolition."

The July date of completion will give administration and faculty time to get moved in by the start of the 2017 fall semester.

The wealth of construction in the school district keeps Byard on the move.

"I run every day," he said with a smile. "Before 9 o'clock in the morning I've usually been at every site. On Mondays I speak with the job superintendents to see how the weekend went. It's constant communication between the general contractors and myself."

The construction projects include a completed cafeteria addition at Faulk, which opened just before Christmas 2016 and electrical renovations at Faulk, Richland Elementary, the Academies of West Memphis, Weaver Elementary and Maddux Elementary.

Other projects include an interior renovation of 39,000 square feet at Maddux with a new fire sprinkler system, new fire alarm system, new intercom system, new suspended ceiling system, new LED lighting, new LVT flooring in the hallways, a new cafeteria, a new gymnasium, new room for the choral program and new room for the art program.

At Weaver, there is a new construction of a 6,000 square foot gymnasium with the same synthetic floor as Maddux and a new construction of 10,000 square feet art and music rooms along with a new administration area and kitchen expansion.

At Richland, there is a new gymnasium, art and music buildings as well as 10,000 square feet of space for special education class rooms along with a new administration area and kitchen addition.

Also at Faulk, there is an 8,000 square foot gymnasium and music building as well as renovation of the existing library into new administration offices and renovation of the existing offices to instruction support spaces.

At Jackson and Wonder elementaries, a new campus site is waiting on approval for state funds in May.

"All of our projects are right on schedule," Byard added. "We're looking at all  of these to be 14-16-month projects. Maddux ran ahead of schedule and is already completed."

Weaver's project is set for completion for July 30. Richland's completion date is set for Sept. 1 of this year and the rest of the Faulk project has a completion date of Jun1, 2018.

Back to Bragg Elementary: Byard said the demolition of the current Bragg building will take approximately two weeks. The space will then be used as a parking lot, which is expected to be completed by the first part of September.

In the interim, teachers and parents will have to use street parking for a couple weeks.

"We didn't give ourselves a lot of grace time because maintenance-wise we've invested a lot into the building, we've put in LBT flooring...basically no wax, so there's no stripping, no wax from this point on. It's going to save us on that continuing maintenance operation cost every summer. And it's going to allow us to move into the building immediately."

Without LBT flooring, ti would take "us a month in a building of that size to strip and wax."

The ordering of furniture for the new Bragg has already taken place. All of the classrooms for students and offices for administrators, faculty and nurses will be brand new.

Groundbreaking for the new school was in mid-April of 2016 and the ceremony included West Memphis mayor Bill Johnson, superintendent Jon Collins, state senator Keith Ingram and state reps Deborah Ferguson and Milton Nicks.

Both Collins and Ladd Garey of the architectural firm of ETFC/Garey, are Bragg alums, and as you might expect the new school takes on new meaning.