Lakeland’s school board has unveiled the concept for the new district’s first big construction project — a middle school for up to 900 students.
School superintendent Ted Horrell spoke to a crowd of about 40 to show the proposed Capital Improvement Plan at Monday night’s school board work session.
The project is estimated at nearly $20 million, higher than a middle school might ordinarily cost, but it will lay the groundwork for the district to build the high school on the same property at a later date, he said.
Southern Educational Strategies, the board’s consulting firm, notified the board at the June 1 meeting that the selected property has passed all steps of due diligence required for the board to proceed with contract negotiations.
The land, owned by the Jones Gilliland Group LLC, is on the west side of Scott’s Creek, between U.S. 70 and Old Brownsville Road.
Horrell and others who addressed the board said the owner does not appear to be interested in selling if the land will not be used for school construction.
Horrell was careful to mention that the high-school phase of construction is likely to be a distant long-term project that will be brought up and discussed publicly when the right time arises, whether that is in 10, 12, 15, 20 or 25 or more years.
He and the school board want to work closely with Arlington Community Schools’ leaders to plan how Lakeland high school students will be educated at Arlington High School.
“Arlington High School will be our high school for the foreseeable future,” Horrell said.
The school system’s plans for a large combined middle/high school, Lakeland Prep, faded when the city’s voters overwhelmingly defeated the proposed funding vehicle, a $50 million bond issuance.
Middle school
The new plan is still in the conceptual stages but includes these highlights:
The middle school would encompass grades 5-8, removing the fifth-grade level from Lakeland Elementary School to ensure there is plenty of room for growth there as well.
The concept is for a 109,949 square foot facility at an estimated cost of $125 per foot.
The target completion date is July 2018 at an estimated cost of $19,991,789.
The leaner middle school project does not currently include plans for sports fields, although there will be a gym, and fields might be possible, depending on the budget.
Horrell said Nedra Jones, the planner shared among the new local municipal school districts, identified a population of about 1,200 students to be relatively stable for AHS for the foreseeable future.
Reactions
The reactions to the CIP proposal were mixed.
Stefanie Lefler of Lakeland, who was among citizens opposed to the $50M Lakeland Prep project, questioned why the city is buying such a large plot of land if only about 15 acres are needed for the middle school, why the school district continues to move fast and why the board appears to be fixated on this land.
Referring to the referendum that defeated the district’s plan to build a $50 million combined middle and high school facility, she said, “I think the 60/40 vote said more than, ‘We don’t want both.’”
Geof Hicks of Lakeland said he was pleased that the need for a middle school was addressed, and he implored the board to keep the “Lakeland Prep” name in anticipation of one day adding a high school to the property.
Laura Drewry of Lakeland, whose children include some with special needs, asked the board to ensure that Lakeland’s middle school children will get resources comparable to what they currently have at Arlington Middle School, which is beyond the state’s minimums. She also questioned whether teachers would be attracted to a new school.
Lou Melton of Lakeland said she is skeptical that the current property is so ideal and rare that the board must seize on it immediately. She added that she is very disappointed that a thorough needs assessment of both school districts was not done before the school board proposed a new school project.
“I find that appalling,” she said. “I also find it like you have not done your jobs.”
John Brown of Lakeland, asked the school board to consider whether there will be room to expand the middle school on the designated property. He said the middle school concept looks pretty good, but he added that he wishes the plan had arisen before the city became so divided.
Jeremy Burnett said the issue has divided the city like no other he has ever seen.
He asked the board to ensure that future proposals are approached more as conversations, not presentations, to citizens. He earned a burst of applause from the audience.
Click here to read the June 1 initial presentation of the middle school concept.
Editor’s note: The June 1 Lakeland School System meeting was a work session; the regular business meeting is scheduled for June 3. School boards may discuss topics at work sessions but cannot vote on them.
Written by Carolyn Bahm, Express editor. Contact her at (901) 433-9183 or via email to bartlett.editor@journalinc.com.
