The classroom addition/office space at LES (Lakeland Elementary School) continues and is anticipated to be ready for use in the 2019-20 school year.
The work space is a field of mud but there is progress with block walls in place and equipment at work.
Although there was expectation that the expansion would be finished this March, Dr. Ted Horrell, Lakeland School System (LSS) superintendent, said he now expects the work will be ready for the next school year.
“I do not expect the classroom addition to be ready for use in March. At this point, we are working under the assumption that the classrooms will be ready for use for the 19-20 school year. “
At LES the work is part of a $2.7 million project to upgrade the K-4 school and provide more space for students. The budgeted amount for the work, which included eight classrooms, was $3 million. There was an additional bid of $347K for four more classrooms. Because the bid was under the $3 million budget, four more classrooms were added to the project equaling 12 classrooms. Additional office space is part of the plan as well as more capacity in the cafeteria.
Dr. Horrell said 12 classrooms aren’t immediately needed but will give LSS some breathing room.
The project also included a new secure entrance to the school and parking lot work which was completed in the fall.
Zach Herin, superintendent for Legacy Construction, Thursday (1.3.19) said rainy weather has caused the delay in making progress on the construction. “You can’t put a slab on wet dirt,” he said. The crews work daily when possible, including Christmas Eve and weekends, he said.
He noted for the cafeteria, the block and brick are up with electricity, air conditioning and heat. He expects it to be ready by the end of this month.
At LMPS (Lakeland Middle Preparatory School), work continues on the soccer field, as part of two athletic fields, a concessions building and restrooms project.
The artificial turf and lighted football fields were readied in time for the first LMPS football homecoming last fall. However, the natural turf, lighted soccer fields aren’t quite ready and thus not expected to be ready for boys’ spring soccer.
“While we hoped that the soccer field would be ready for spring soccer, we do not believe that will give the turf enough time to establish with the quality we would like. We are planning for the boys’ team to play their games on the artificial turf football field.”
He added, “The concessions and restrooms facilities will be open for the boys’ soccer season. They have only recently completed the required County inspections, and they were not used at all in the fall. The building includes a concessions stand, men’s and women’s restrooms, a storage room and a large maintenance room that could also be used for equipment storage.”
Money to build the fields came from $3+ million in excess funds left from bond proceeds on building the middle school in 2017.
Lakeland high school students attend Arlington High School through an interlocal between the two cities, until a high school is built in Lakeland.
… Photos by Jim Willis, Lakeland Currents
