Construction coming soon on new McClintock Middle

by Morgan Smith

Guy Chamberlain, associate superintendent for auxiliary services for the district, stated the project will come in two phases. Since the new school will be built on the school’s current Rama Road site, the plan is to begin construction where the athletic fields are now, maybe as soon as late February or early March.

“Once we complete the new school and move children in, we’ll knock out the old school and replace the athletic fields,” Chamberlain said. As for outdoors athletics at the school in the meantime, Chamberlain stated the details are still under negotiation. “We’ll just have to work that out. We’ll do some sharing of facilities with some other schools.”

The project comes after a previous decision to renovate the facilities at McClintock, but after further consideration and a substantial amount of savings on other various projects, Chamberlain stated the cost to construct a new school would only be “a couple million dollars more” than to renovate, so the call was made.

Pamela Espinosa, McClintock’s principal, stated the current school building has outlived its usefulness. “We are really one of the worst facilities that is operating at this time,” she stated about the more than 50-year-old building. “It doesn’t do a good job of providing the environment we want for our kids.”

Espinosa spoke about the need for better technology, which is more limited in an old building than a new building, she said.

“We expect having access to wireless technology and those type of things,” she added.

Also, with construction of a new school, the district would experience savings in the long run because of energy efficiency.

“The school is old and has had a couple additions built since it was originally constructed,” Chamberlain explained. “It’s outdated and not very efficient, and arguably a lot of spaces we were going to renovate would not have been as efficient as this would be.”

The school, which will mimic Ridge Road and Whitewater middle schools in design, will have 54 classrooms, and has space for 1,200 students. Chamberlain stated reasoning for a new school was primarily a facility issue, not an overcrowding issue, as McClintock currently has an enrollment around 700 students.

“Our capacities depend on our student-teacher ratio,” he said. “It may serve fewer than that depending, but it’s intended to be a 1,200-student school.”

Because the school will be built on site, students and prospective students of McClintock will not experience rezoning during the duration of the construction, projected to wrap up by November 2013, with hopes of completion as early as August 2013 in time for the 2013-14 school year.

“You can’t build a building and not be inconvenienced by it,” Espinosa said. “It will be a temporary inconvenience, but come August 2013, it will have been well worth it.”

Espinosa stated for now, the school is “hot and heavy in planning” on communication with parents about project hurdles, such as the relocation of outdoor athletics and cooperation between the district and other area schools. The school serves the communities of Lansdowne and Stonehaven, among others.

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Submited at Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 9:00 pm on Uncategorized by jessica
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