TRI-LAKES AREA — The school colors for Bismarck High School are blue and white, but the designation of the new high school building is green.
“There are energy-saving features all through the school,” said Larry Newsom, principal at Bismarck High.
He said the lights are the most noticeable special feature of the building.
“They are set to work with all the sunlight that enters the rooms,” Newsom said. “The lights will be dim when there is bright sunlight, and sensors will automatically make the light brighter if there are clouds.”
“The light switches are also automatic,” the principal said. “Lights will come on when someone walks into the room. If no one is walking around, they will automatically shut off in 30 minutes.”
The Bismarck School District was pressured to build a new high school by the state, said Susan Stewart, district superintendent.
“The school was in fiscal distress, and it was either pass a tax increase for a new school or close,” Stewart said. “Passing the 12-mill tax in 2007 was a huge thing for the community.”
The original budget for the 875,000-squarefoot school building was between $14 million and $15 million, Newsom said.
However, Stewart said that after 18 months under construction, the cost was closer to $12 million.
“It was less than anticipated,” she said. “We watched our dollars and cents very closely.”
Stewart also credited the district’s construction manager, Sean Burkheart, with making the savings possible.
“He was at the construction site every day,” she said. “And he was always meeting with the school board to go over the details to get a good return for the money.”
Bunny Brown, of the Little Rock architectural firm of Jackson, Brown and King, said that in today’s construction market, energy-saving materials are purchased for about the same price as older types of building supplies.
“We have found that materials can be bought for a minimal amount of capital but will generate significant savings,” he said. “The higher prices are for more sophisticated controls and lighting systems.”
Brown said that in similar schools builtaround the state, during the first 12 years of operation, the energy savings and lower maintenance costs could recover almost the total cost of the buildings.
Among the first things noticeable about the blue and beige interior of the new high school are its high ceilings.
Newsom said the ceiling of the main lobby is 30 feet high, and the hallways are 10 to 12 feethigh. The library is two stories high, and the back wall of the library is all windows.
“There is a special coating on the windows,” Stewart said as she led a tour of the building.
A light-blue tint shows on some of the windows. The superintendent also said that the school is oriented to minimize the heat of thesun in the summer and receive more sun in the colder months.
There is a lot of light in every classroom as well, but a modern heating and cooling system will keep the students comfortable.
Newsom said that air, moving over pipes in which cool water circulates, cools the students from the floor up.
“The cool air comes in at about waist high or lower and only moves up when it hits a student’s body,” he said. “There is ventilation in the ceiling, so you don’t have to breathe the same air twice.”
Stewart said that as more students enter the room, causing the air temperature to rise, the cooling will respond to the changes and adjust the temperature.
The high school even features Bismarck’s first elevator, for movement-impaired students, she said.
“I know it is amazing to see this kind of building in Bisma rck, A rk .,” Stewa r t said. “With everything in one building, it looks more like a college than a high school.”
More than 300 students, in grades nine through 12, will attend the school starting Aug. 19. The expansion of school facilities will mean most of the students in the district will shift where they go to school, Stewart said.
Middle school studentswill now attend the old high school, and the elementary school will leave one of the two existing school buildings now in use and move to the former middle school. There should be no temporary classrooms in use in the 2010-2011 school year.
“The old high school is being repainted and fixed up to reduce the jealousy factor of the middle school principle,” Stewart joked.
The new high school, as built, can take as many as 350 students, and the design of the school lends itself to expansion, she said.
“I expect to see more students coming here because of this building,” Stewart said, “selecting this districtover another for their school choice.”
Along with new energysaving innovations, there are new and expanded rooms specialized to aid instruction.
For the first time, there will be a room for an EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technologies) program, the high school’s first. There are special agricultural instruction rooms with huge exhaust systems to take away heat, smoke and fumes from welding and other skill instruction.
The instruction kitchen, with several full stations of appliances, looks like the set of a cooking show
A practice gym is included in the new high school. Stewart said it could be expanded as abasketball arena for the school when the need arises.
The school district has purchased furniture from the Arkansas Department of Correction industries. Stewart said inmate-built furniture offers the best quality at the lowest price and that truckloads of furniture will be moved into the school this summer.
Newsom said he hopes all the furniture and equipment will be in place by the time teachers arrive Aug. 1.
“It will be busy getting some things in every day to be ready,” he said. “I would love to have everything in order so the teachers can put their own touches into their classrooms.” - wbryan@ arkansasonline.com
Tri-Lakes, Pages 57 on 06/24/2010