Students, teachers and parents will see changes with parking and getting around school buildings when construction projects begin during spring break.
The School Board discussed upcoming school construction and the reinvestment housing incentive district at Thursday’s meeting.
The parking lot north of the high school is going to be contractor parking instead of staff and EDTEC parking.
There will also be a gated area from the high school to the EDTEC building so students can safely move from building to building.
The middle school’s bus loop will be partially fenced off for construction. The current parent drop-off lane will be both the parent and bus drop-off lane after spring break.
There will also be a tunnel from the parking lot to the middle school entrance so students can safely get into school.
Superintendent Stu Moeckel said the middle school entrance should be done by the start of next school year.
Construction at the elementary school will take place over summer and will not affect drop off for Summer Academy students.
In other business, Dustin Baker from Alcove Development discussed why the Shadow Ridge North project needs the reinvestment housing incentive district.
Baker projects the new subdivision to cost around $75,000 per lot, which would increase the cost of the houses. He said without the incentive, Alcove wouldn’t develop the new subdivision because of the high costs.
Board member Zach Brooks had questions about how the housing district would help with the cost of the lots.
Baker said the housing district would allow him to sell the lots for cheaper and clarified it would allow him to sell lots around $70,000 per lot. The lots would be around $90,000 each without the housing district.
“It just allows me to recoup my cost over time or some of my cost over time,” Baker said. “It essentially would allow me to sell the lots at cost or below cost.”
Board President Mark Chrislip asked how long it would take to complete the project.
Baker said that is difficult to predict because there are market factors to take into consideration. He said they hope to begin construction of the subdivision, including south Fir Street, in the fall.
Baker said the first phase is estimated to have around 50-60 lots. The next phase of development would start after about 60% to 65% of the lots have been sold.
Baker said no decision was made about the implementation of the incentive at the public hearing on Jan. 22. He said a March public hearing date will be set at Monday’s City Commission meeting.
In other business, information technology director Ron Long gave updates about technology usage on school devices over the past 90 days.
Long said nearly 50% of internet consumption on school devices was for educational purposes. Social media took up the least amount of internet consumption at 0.1%.
“That’s good because that’s what we want to see is that when the students are in this district and they’re using the internet, and this is data coming off of our internet filter, that they are using things for education,” Long said.
Long said his team will add ceiling projectors and screens in the high school commons after spring break, with a similar system later planned for the elementary school commons.
The School Board also heard from Heather Hundley, Shanda Hurla and Amy Shanks, who shared information about the recent Dream Big Conference.
Staff learned how to manage stress and build resilience, as well as gain insight on how to be a leader.
“Overall, the sessions were well attended, and they also had a high level of satisfaction,” Shanks said.
Hurla said the conference brought in $17,000 in sponsorships, which is more than they have in previous years.
The board also approved the hiring of Van Love-Scott as the middle school assistant track coach for the 2024 season.
Reach reporter Ryn Drummond at [email protected]
To donate to support our community journalism, please go to this link: tinyurl.com/y4u7stxj
