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I-SS copes with growth

Chyna Broadnax | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | May 2, 2008

Phase II update:
Celeste Henkel Elementary School: Replace 13 classrooms, administration area and media center; add 12 classrooms and two resource rooms. Demolition of the existing building is complete and site grading is under way. Footing and underground piping should begin this month.

East Iredell Elementary School: Add 14 classrooms, four resource rooms and reconfigure existing classrooms, new media center and administration area. Demolition of the interior building is complete and crews have started excavation for underground plumbing and electrical.

Coddle Creek Elementary School: Build a new K-5 elementary school on Presbyterian Road to accommodate 950 students. Clearing operations have begun, with grading expected to begin by May.

Northview/Ebenezer schools: Build a new K-5 elementary school. Clearing operations are complete, with grading to be completed by the end of April.

Shepherd Elementary School: Add 21 classrooms and four resource rooms. Clearing and grading is complete, with footings construction under way.

South Iredell High School: Add 12 classrooms and new media center, gymnasium and locker rooms. Installation of the storm sewer lines is under way, with building construction beginning this month.

Statesville High School: Complete phase II construction, a new media center, administration and guidance areas, add 28 new classrooms. Excavation and grading is complete and footings and foundations are being installed.

Phase III:
The Phase III facility task force may convene in June and plan for:

Expanding Cool Spring Elementary by replacing 10 classrooms, adding 10 classrooms and four resource rooms;

Expanding Lake Norman Elementary to 800 students by adding four classrooms, expanding the cafeteria and multipurpose rooms; and

Replacing 12 classrooms and three resource rooms in Union Grove Elementary.

Also on I-SS’s agenda:
In coming years, a new middle school may be built on the same site as the proposed Coddle Creek Elementary, as well as a new high school on Overcash Road. Coddle Creek Elementary, which is intended to alleviate overcrowding in the southern end, is slated to be completed by August 2009.

With virtual courses and the Visual and Performing Arts School, students are not spending an entire school day in one place. Those options are helping to relieve some crowding in schools.

According to I-SS Superintendent Terry Holliday, charter schools will help relieve overcrowding, but will hurt funding. If enough students choose to leave I-SS, the district could lose millions.

Pine Lake Preparatory currently has 250 students, half of which come from I-SS in kindergarten through second grade. The school will add third through 11th grades in the fall and expand to upward of 1,300 students for the 2008-09 school year. Between 500 and 600 students entering Pine Lake will be coming from I-SS.

Other resolutions may come in the form of possibly reconfiguring Mt. Mourne Elementary School into a middle school.

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