Norwayne renovations - Wayne-Wilson News Leader, Fremont, NC

14 February 2008 — Last Wednesday members of the Board of Education, along with County Commissioners and members of the local business community, came to Norwayne Middle School to discuss renovations that will soon be happening on that campus.

The Board of Education held what member Thelma Smith has deemed a “chat and chew” session at the middle school to discuss plans to renovate the campus, part of a recent $23 million proposal for renovations in county schools.

Wednesday’s meeting was the second lunch meeting the board has held, with the first at Eastern Wayne Middle School. The goal of the meetings is to allow the two boards, along with members of the local communities, to discuss the proposed renovations while in view of the current campus, to get a more realistic picture of both the current challenges and the future construction possibilities.

As construction talk at Norwayne usually does, Wednesday’s discussion of renovations began with water and drainage issues. Sprunt Hill, (INSERT TITLE), explained an engineering plan designed to address drainage issues at both Eastern Wayne and Norwayne Middle Schools.

During a heavy rainfall, water drains downhill into the low-lying area where the current school is built. To avoid standing water issues in the future, a drainage system will be installed underground to divert the rainwater to an underground storage pond.

Mr. Hill explained that the system allowed the option of using an above-ground pond, in which students could use for biological studies. However, he felt at a middle school, the cost of maintenance would outweigh the benefits, and said the plan will include an underground tank for storing water.

In addition to keeping the land dry, the water will be treated and used for watering the lawn and landscaping at the school. The recycled water can also be used for flushing toilets on the school’s campus.

And while the area where the tank is stored will not be structurally sound enough to support a building, a parking lot or athletic field could be built over the land without a problem.

Mr. Hill added that the engineers of the plan had given him a 100 percent guarantee that the plan would work to effectively drain the watershed on Norwayne’s campus.

Overall, the board has allotted $6.6 million to address the water and facility issues at Norwayne. Engineers are currently drafting possible structures for the new Norwayne, but the team already has a general idea of what they would like to see.

The two oldest classroom spaces, commonly referred to as the old sixth and seventh-grade buildings, would be demolished, as would a metal two-classroom building at the far end of campus. The old eighth-grade building was originally scheduled for demolition, but may be partially saved and used as a storage facility for the school.

The gym, media center, and the front-most classroom building, which currently houses the office, will be kept in their current condition. The cafeteria will remain and will be modernized, and air conditioning would be added to the gym in an alternate bid.

In place of the demolished buildings, the facilities team is looking at two different options for classroom space.

The first option would involve constructing a common area to adjoin the existing classroom space that will be kept with several wings of new classroom space. Mr. Hill said Superintendent Steve Taylor likes this type of school plan because an administrator can stand in a common area and see everything going on in the school, hopefully increasingly addressing discipline issues.

The second option wouldn’t allow as much visual observation, but is still under serious consideration. This option would join a new two-story building to the current one-story building, forming an L-shape. This option would save land space and give the school room to grow on the current site.

However, the facilities team is still in planning stages, and have not created a finalized plan for the school’s construction.

The team is looking ahead to how the school will operate during construction. Mobile units will be moved onto the school’s campus to house classrooms during construction. Mr. Hill said the team had looked at several campus locations, but is primarily considering the football and baseball field area behind the school, due to its proximity to current structures in case of an emergency situation.

Athletic events on the fields would probably be moved to an alternate location for the duration of construction, but Mr. Hill said the fields would be useable the next year when the new buildings opened.

The team will seek multiple bids on the project from construction companies, which will determine how many classrooms are added. All interested companies will submit bids for constructing 36 classrooms, which will simply replace the lost classroom space. They will also submit bids for building additional classrooms. Mr. Hill said the team hopes to net an additional four to six classrooms on the Norwayne Campus.

A definitive timeline has not been set by the board for construction. However, the teams are compiling engineering costs and estimates to present to the Local Government Commission for approval, a step that must be taken before the County Commissioners can approve expenditures for the project.

Back to this week's News Leader

Issue of 14 February 2008

Wayne Wilson News Leader
113 N. Wilson St., PO Box 158,
Fremont, NC 27830
(919) 242-6301 •
Fax (919) 936-2065

Princeton News Leader
119 W. Edwards St., Princeton, NC 27569
(919) 936-9891
Fax (919) 936-2065

Email us:
Advertising Department
News Department
Letters To The Editor
Publisher