New Central School Complex Rises on Sullivan Road

Craftsmen Flood Construction Site To Complete New $46 Million Facility

CENTRAL — The new Central School Complex, currently under construction on Sullivan Road, is a beehive of activity as the general contractor and its subcontractors fight to finish the project by late May.  On any given day, hundreds of workers are at the building site, including masons, plumbers, electricians, and craftsmen installing floors and finishing walls.  Outside the buildings, dirt and concrete work is continuing.

School officials hope to start moving in by early June and be ready for the opening of the school year in early August.  Barring a long stretch of bad weather or some calamity, they should be able to meet that goal.

The $46 million project is located on 87.5 acres adjacent to Sullivan Road near Gurney Road.  It is part of a tract formerly owned by the Jackson family, which Jackson Place and Jackson Park were named after.

The new School Complex will include two schools — Central Intermediate School (3rd, 4th, and 5th grades) and Central Middle School (6th, 7th, and 8th grades).  It also includes enough space to build a third school at some time in the future.

The project by the Central Community School System was authorized by Central voters in May 2009.  They approved a $55 million bond issue, funded by three separate taxes — a 1/2-cent sales tax to build the new Central Middle School; a 9.25-mill property tax to meet Life Safety Code requirements at Central High, Tanglewood Elementary, and Bellingrath Hills Elementary schools, and a 14.4-mill property tax to build a new elementary school, which will be Central Intermediate.

Property and Trees. The property being used for the School Complex was mostly open land but did include a large grove of historic live oak trees.  Supt. Mike Faulk, who has led efforts to build the School Complex, made a public commitment to preserve the live oaks.  So far, 31 of 32 trees have been carefully preserved throughout the construction.  However, one had to be removed because of storm damage.  The oak grove will present an attractive setting for the complex along Sullivan Road.

Roads. Anyone traveling to the School Complex will be able to enter on three different roads.  The southernmost road will enter the property from a roundabout directly across from Gurney Road.  That road will head due east and connect to Devall Road.

The second road will go from Sullivan to the parking lot in front of Central Intermediate School, which faces east toward Sullivan.

The third road will begin on Sullivan and head due east to the front of Central Middle School, and then head south, connecting to the first road and forming a circle around the School Complex.  Central Middle faces north.

Two Identical Schools. Each of the schools is virtually identical to the other and consists of an administrative building, flanked by a classroom building on each side.  So each school consists of three buildings, and the two schools together have six buildings.

Each of the schools has its own library.  Each library is located in the administrative building.  A visitor will enter through the administrative building and, if he continues straight ahead, will walk right into the library.

Other Buildings. Besides the two schools, the complex includes three additional buildings — a Career/Technology Center, a Gymnasium Building, and a Cafeteria — for a total of nine buildings.

Eight of the nine buildings are connected by a central hallway that goes from building to building.  However, the hallway that connects the intermediate school with the middle school can only be accessed with a security card.  The way the school buildings, yards, and cafeteria are arranged, there will be very little or no contact between children in Central Intermediate School and children in Central Middle School.

Career/Technology. The Career/Technology Center is located just east of Central Middle School.  It includes classrooms for band, choir, and home economics.  Another large classroom has been set aside for future use as a shop.

Cafeteria. The Cafeteria is a separate building, which will be accessed from Central Middle, Central Intermediate, the Career-Technology Building, and the Gymnasium Building by a series of outdoor covered walkways.

The Cafeteria is a large facility that will serve three shifts of 400 meals per shift for each of the two schools.  So, altogether, it will be able to serve 2,400 meals at lunch.

Cafeteria Divisible. The Cafeteria Building has 32,316 square feet.  It consists of a kitchen and storage area, two serving areas, and the dining hall.  The dining hall can be divided by automated sliding doors, which can separate the space into three distinct areas — the middle school cafeteria, the intermediate school cafeteria, and a multi-purpose room.

Stages. The Cafeteria includes an indoor stage for programs and entertainment.  It will be able to seat 1,200 people indoors for assemblies, banquets, forums, or community-wide meetings.  The Cafeteria also has two outdoor stages — one for the middle school and one for the intermediate school.

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News