CONWAY — Work is scheduled to begin in August to build a $7.5 million two-story facility at Ida Burns Elementary School in Conway to replace the outdated building.
The school, which sits parallel to Donaghey Avenue, was built in 1955 and opened in 1956.
Conway School District Assistant Superintendent Carroll Bishop said the new 34,765-square-foot building, which will face Poplar Street, will include office space, 12 state-of-the-art classrooms, a cafeteria with a stage, a student health room for the school nurse and a physical-education room that will double as a safe room.
The school is scheduled to open in August 2016.
“After we build that next year, we’re going to come in next summer and tear down the existing building,” Bishop said. The space left after demolition will become a parking lot, he said. “This summer, we’re going to make the temporary parking on the front, which will turn into the new parking next year.”
Two classroom wings — one built in 1976 and the other in 1992 — that are perpendicular to the 1950s building will get new flooring, paint and bathrooms, Bishop said, much like the remodeling project that is underway at Julia Lee Moore Elementary School in west Conway. Covered walkways will lead from the new two-story building to the older wings.
“We’re probably looking in the neighborhood … of putting another $500,000 into the other buildings to update them,” Bishop said.
The existing main elementary building has “tiny hallways; poor plumbing; inadequate cafeteria, office and meeting spaces; and an old electrical system that cannot support future technology,” according to a written report to the school board.
Bishop said a person can almost raise his arms to the side and touch the walls of the hallways.
“Those little narrow hallways are going to go away,” said Bill Clements, school board member.
Cindy Thacker, principal of Ida Burns Elementary School, said that not only are the hallways too narrow, one of the bathrooms had a problem that couldn’t be fixed.
“It’s going to be so exciting,” she said of the new facility. “How do you refurbish something that has so many problems?”
Conway Superintendent Greg Murry said the construction project will be a much-needed improvement for the district.
“Ida Burns is a great school environment,” Murry said, “but the current building is small, and the systems inside are very outdated. Ida Burns will be an even better school after these much-needed additions and renovations.”
Bishop said the reconfigured layout on the site should help the traffic flow on busy Donaghey Avenue “tremendously.”
“The front entrance will still be coming in on Donaghey, but the main two-story will face Poplar [Street],” Bishop said. “We’re backing it up where we’re getting it off of Donaghey. We’re going to bring the parents in from Lee Street — that way we’ll get some of the major traffic off Donaghey so we won’t be backing up Donaghey as bad.”
Drainage will be improved on Poplar Street, too, Bishop said.
“Poplar Street has big ditches with all this muck in them. … We’re going to go underground with drainage so that land is suitable for a playground,” he said. That work will begin this summer, he said.
Although the playground equipment will be moved to another playground on the Lee Street side of the campus, Bishop said, installing underground drainage on Poplar Street “will make all that extra land more usable for kickball, soccer and playing games.”
He said the plan is to start construction in August on the two-story facility, if the Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Division approves the project and the Conway School Board has time to act on it. If that approval isn’t given in time, construction will begin in September, Bishop said.
Bishop said district officials looked at building Ida Burns Elementary School elsewhere and repurposing the existing building, but the population in that area still supports a school there.
Ida Burns Elementary had 408 students enrolled last year, said Heather Kendrick, communications specialist for the district. Bishop said the new facility will be built for “at least 500” students.
“There are so many people who are rebuilding in that inner city of Conway, tearing down old houses and putting up new houses or duplexes,” he said. “There is still a large base of people in that zone that we would have to disburse pretty far away.”
Thacker agreed. “The thing I am just so grateful for is that our district is choosing to keep that as a neighborhood school,” she said. “I know our teachers are very grateful, and our families.”
Bishop said it is a “challenging” project because construction will be going on at the same time school is in session.
Thacker said she met with parents after end-of-the year awards assemblies and told them school officials would need their patience and their help next year with the traffic.
“Just understand we’ve got a building project going on, but it’s going to be worth it,” Thacker said.
Bishop praised Eldon Bock, architect with WER Associates of Little Rock.
“He’s been doing our work on these last four, five, six projects — he is a really good architect,” Bishop said.
Conway-based Nabholz is the construction manager, and the project is being paid for with second-lien bonds.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.