The North Pike School District’s plan to expand its campuses over five years may take a decade longer than expected, officials said last week as they grappled with how to pay for the work.
Consultants working with the district to find a way to accommodate its surging student population have said a complete redesign of campuses and construction of needed facilities could cost as much as $25 million.
That price tag could be over twice as much as the district’s borrowing capacity. Based on the assessed valuation of property in the district, North Pike can issue $10.9 million in general obligation bonds.
The district’s expansion plan includes moving fifth-grade classes from the middle school to the current elementary school and building a new elementary school.
Officials also want to look into restructuring the high school, making its main class wing a two-level building.
Another project involves filling in a sewage lagoon and building a football stadium on top of it, and tearing down the band hall and field house and rebuilding new facilities from their frames.
Gary Bailey of Bailey Architecture Education PA gave the district a $25 million estimate in January.
The district has also received a revised estimate from Neel-Schaffer, but officials didn’t disclose the overall amount.
Superintendent Dennis Penton said at a special meeting last week that trustees will vote to hire an architect at their May board meeting.
The proposals include a new elementary for $8.8 million and the renovation of high school buildings at $1.79 million.
It would cost another $1.19 million to remove the sewage the lagoon — including $700,000 just to fill it in and the rest to reconfigure the district’s infrastructure to send its sewage somewhere else.
But this can only happen if Southwest Mississippi Community College will allow the school to connect its sewage system to the college’s system. However, the college has seen an increase of waste and SMCC officials are not sure if their system can also hold waste from North Pike.
“They have to take care of themselves first,” Penton said.
Even if the sewage situation is solved, the construction of a football stadium would still cost another $7 million, he said.
The district has a contract with the college that allows North Pike to use SMCC’s football stadium in the meantime.
“We have to prioritize our project to get the project within the projected amount we have,” Penton said.
North Pike’s plans will ultimately come down to what can be done with available funds.
“It really boils down to can we build a school and move a lagoon?” he said.
Penton said he was surprised to see the total cost.
“It was staggering to me,” he said.
District officials said an alternative plan for the football stadium would be to build it on 16th Section land.
Trustee Scott Campbell asked if there were other sewer systems the school could use, even if it required building its own.
“We could, but those are expensive also,” Penton said.
“Like, as expensive as what we’re looking at now?” Campbell asked.
“Even more expensive,” Penton said.
Trustees also asked about connecting to Summit’s sewage system, but Penton also noted the infrastructure costs associated with that.
Penton said whatever the board decides regarding its sewer issue will have to be approved by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
Board President Kevin Matthew said he doesn’t see the need for a football stadium.
Penton disagreed: “Well, I’ve had several people come to me and tell me that and I’ve had several people to say they want the field.”
Trustee Etta Taplin asked if there was a grant the school could pursue.
“There are, but they take years to even get and all the paperwork you have to do,” Penton said.
“Well, it’s going to take us a minute to get through,” Taplin said.
The district is facing two decisions — either extend the duration of the work or abort the plan.
“I don’t think we can afford to stall out. We’re going to be sitting on top of each other soon. We have to do something,” Taplin said.
The district also has to somehow fit a preschool in their new plans.
“We don’t have the funds to build buildings or equip them with staff,” Penton said.
Matthew suggested maybe asking parents to contribute to the preschool.
“It needs to be free and I don’t believe in making them pay for public education. It could keep some of our most needy kids out and we need those kids,” Penton said, “We need to close the gap between what they know and what they don’t know by the time they get to kindergarten.”
Penton said the district plans to hold another public meeting once plans become more concrete and officials have more information to give.
