FORT SMITH/LAVACA - Millions of dollars are being spent on local school construction projects. School districts from Greenwood to Springdale have projects underway. 5NEWS has the story of what those projects are and how much they'll cost.
Fort Smith Public Schools will shell out almost $800,000 dollars for heating and air improvements at Northside High School. But this is just one of more than a dozen major projects at the big districts in our area.
Algebra teacher Felicia Owen has spent the last two and a half weeks working on her classroom at the new Lavaca High School.
"I think probably the most exciting thing is that everything is brand new and the 2nd thing would be that we're all under one roof," Owen said.
She says it was once chaos on a campus that had students walking from one building to the next. Superintendent Jared Cleveland agrees.
"We took 2 full buildings actually 3 and included them into one major building," the superintendent explained.
The new high school will open in just a few weeks. Four of five vocational programs the school offers are now under one roof, including agri and family consumer science. Old main, the former building, was riddled with leaks, but now the superintendent says the students won't have to worry about unwanted water. Even better, he believes the learning environment is the best it can be.
"The teachers have top of the line state of the art equipment in their classrooms," Cleveland explained.
The superintendent says they could be ready to start school next Monday if they needed to. There are just a few final touches they need to make.
Meanwhile, Van Buren will break ground this fall on the new King Elementary. The school built in the 1950's will be replaced by a new building directly across the street. The 10 million dollar facility will double the student size. Green is the theme, and bricks from the old school will be incorporated into the new and geothermal technology will help keep energy costs low.
Dan Roberts with the district estimates that the school's savings on utilities will actually pay for the construction within seven years. The project should be completed by school year 2011. The district recognizes that the school holds a lot of memories for former students.
"We're going to incorporate as much of the design of King and the old King look into the new design because we want to maintain the integrity and design concept of King school cause there's a lot of history here," Roberts said.
To the north, Springdale High School's renovation continues but won't be complete until next summer. There's a major addition as well as other improvements at a cost of 15 million dollars.
A spokeswoman for Rogers Public Schools says they have no major construction projects but are currently making general improvements in the district. Fort Smith Public Schools also has a classroom addition and renovation at Cavanaugh Elementary, a general facelift at Southside High, and general improvements at Chaffin Junior High.
Greenwood Public Schools is building two new safe rooms at a cost of about 1.7 million dollars each.
And in Fayetteville, the district is constructing the new Happy Hollow Elementary for 13 million and a new high school estimated to cost 110 million.
Fort Smith Public Schools will shell out almost $800,000 dollars for heating and air improvements at Northside High School. But this is just one of more than a dozen major projects at the big districts in our area.
Algebra teacher Felicia Owen has spent the last two and a half weeks working on her classroom at the new Lavaca High School.
"I think probably the most exciting thing is that everything is brand new and the 2nd thing would be that we're all under one roof," Owen said.
She says it was once chaos on a campus that had students walking from one building to the next. Superintendent Jared Cleveland agrees.
"We took 2 full buildings actually 3 and included them into one major building," the superintendent explained.
The new high school will open in just a few weeks. Four of five vocational programs the school offers are now under one roof, including agri and family consumer science. Old main, the former building, was riddled with leaks, but now the superintendent says the students won't have to worry about unwanted water. Even better, he believes the learning environment is the best it can be.
"The teachers have top of the line state of the art equipment in their classrooms," Cleveland explained.
The superintendent says they could be ready to start school next Monday if they needed to. There are just a few final touches they need to make.
Meanwhile, Van Buren will break ground this fall on the new King Elementary. The school built in the 1950's will be replaced by a new building directly across the street. The 10 million dollar facility will double the student size. Green is the theme, and bricks from the old school will be incorporated into the new and geothermal technology will help keep energy costs low.
Dan Roberts with the district estimates that the school's savings on utilities will actually pay for the construction within seven years. The project should be completed by school year 2011. The district recognizes that the school holds a lot of memories for former students.
"We're going to incorporate as much of the design of King and the old King look into the new design because we want to maintain the integrity and design concept of King school cause there's a lot of history here," Roberts said.
To the north, Springdale High School's renovation continues but won't be complete until next summer. There's a major addition as well as other improvements at a cost of 15 million dollars.
A spokeswoman for Rogers Public Schools says they have no major construction projects but are currently making general improvements in the district. Fort Smith Public Schools also has a classroom addition and renovation at Cavanaugh Elementary, a general facelift at Southside High, and general improvements at Chaffin Junior High.
Greenwood Public Schools is building two new safe rooms at a cost of about 1.7 million dollars each.
And in Fayetteville, the district is constructing the new Happy Hollow Elementary for 13 million and a new high school estimated to cost 110 million.
