BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
The Bradford County School Board recently took several steps toward funding construction of the next school.
This is the grades 7-12 combination school that will replace the campuses of Bradford Middle School and North Florida Technical College.
Greg Kelly with CRA Architects told board members that the all-in price for the junior-senior high school is nearly $131.7 million.
“It is a big project, so we’re proud of it. It’s something that will be very nice for the community,” he said.
Superintendent Will Hartley will speak about the project in Tallahassee later this month as it receives a priority ranking along with a new high school for Hardee County and a new K-12 school for Lafayette County.
School board members approved a resolution formally requesting construction funds from the state and certified completion of the Phase 1 construction plans.
Those plans do not depict the school in its final form, according to Hartley. Phase 1 simply shows the Department of Education that there is indeed enough land to accommodate the new school.
The capacity is 1,463 students and is based on a school designed by CRA for Crescent City. The separate classroom buildings for the junior and senior high schools are preliminarily arranged in a L shape with the administrative building separating them at the vertex. The cafeteria is at the end of one building and the gymnasium at the end of the other. The buildings are two stories, and the library/media center currently sits on top of the administrative building.
Students won’t be completely isolated by grade as they will share some classes like algebra. While some of the business-oriented career-technical classes will take place in the high school wing, there is also a separate building for courses in agriculture, manufacturing, etc. The nursing program will continue in the soon-to-be renovated health science building at the corner of Orange and Weldon streets.
The school district is also swapping land with the city of Starke. The city purchasing and public works facility will become the new bus barn while the city moves its operations to the old Southside Elementary School campus.
The Crescent City school project, which broke ground in May of last year, is due to be complete in August with more than 1,300 student stations and a price tag of just under $85 million.
Union County School District is ranked number one on the current list of school construction projects for its new elementary school, which includes moving fifth grade from the middle school. Whether that project remains on track depends on the outcome of Florida’s budget negotiations, which is more than a month past the completion deadline.
