To school board members and the administration, the dust bowl across Highway 92 is looking good, and it could look much better if a proposal to acquire a small parcel falls into place.
The “dust bowl” is the acreage north of the highway and bounding two sides of the current bus barn. It is set to become a tennis, baseball and softball complex, perhaps usable by late spring, with Sweet’s Contracting Inc. of Batesville currently wrapping up initial site preparation. The cost so far has been about $53,000.
Giving an update, Chuck Sweet told the West Side School District’s Board of Directors that work on the baseball field is about 85 percent complete and on the softball field about 95 percent complete. However, work that began March 1 with clearing and excavation, he said on Wednesday evening, is almost at a standstill. The project needs to move west to avoid additional costs excavating rock and disturbing planned parking areas and tennis courts.
Several final site preparation details are in limbo.
“Unfortunately, we are at somewhat of a standstill,” said Steve Lucas, newly hired district superintendent during his first board meeting on the first day of his contract. “Until we get a green light that we can move west, they can’t do a final grade, put in waterlines, finish the drainage, and lay sod.”
Lucas is hopeful of hearing something soon on an offer to purchase some 3 acres of about 6 that lie west of the complex.
If the complex must move toward the east, Sweet said, breaking up the rock will be expensive. Since March, Sweet Contracting has already busted up, extracted and moved a large amount of rock across the highway to the south side of the new gymnasium, not to mention sizeable boulders that remain on the construction site.
During the meeting, Sweet Contracting, as low bidder, also was awarded the $40,000 contract to filter and spread topsoil on the fields. The vote was 5-0. The topsoil was moved aside as the project began; no dirt will be brought in. Chuck Sweet said that any additional topsoil that might be needed could be acquired elsewhere from district property.
Athletic director Sam Tyler, who is also baseball coach, presented some photos taken of other facilities and very preliminary sketches of what the complex could become.
“We want this to be a top-notch complex, just like the gym facility . . . one that we can be proud to host a state tournament,” he told board members. Much like the school’s new gymnasium, Tyler wants to incorporate the best ideas from other ballparks into West Side’s new complex.
“I hope this will help in holding youth camps during the summer, building up excitement for baseball and softball in the community.”
Keith Watson, head of the custodial crew, gave an update on summer cleaning and maintenance, telling board members that all of the elementary and half of the high school classrooms have been stripped, cleaned and re-waxed. There should be little cleaning required on the new gymnasium, he said.
He was concerned that fire ants have made their way onto school grounds, telling board members that pesticides will be carefully applied. Lucas said he will contact Eagle Pest Management of Batesville, which has a contract for pest control, about helping.
The board also voted 5-0 to accept a budget for spending stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Lucas said the federal Title I program requires an approved allocation before funds are spent. The school has about $140,000 in stimulus money available for the Title I program during the coming two school years. Roughly 10 percent of that will be spent on professional development; the remainder will go toward enhancing curriculum and computing software and hardware.
In other business the board:
* Hired Tori Hipp, a teacher with eight years’ experience, to fill the third-grade position vacated by Linda Fulmer, who retired. Mrs. Hipp is married to Preston Hipp, a West Side graduate;
* Hired Donald Holt as a substitute bus driver;
* Accepted the resignation of Jim Hammer, oral communications and drama teacher;
* Received information from Lucas about possibly extending the athletic director’s contract from 195 days to 240 days on the basis of additional responsibilities; and
* Made Lucas the ex-officio secretary of the board, a move necessary so that he can become a signatory on financial matters.
No members of the public attended the meeting.
(Editor’s Note: Matt Irwin, a former journalist, is a teacher at West Side High School.)
Greers Ferry, Ark. —
