THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 18, 1995 TAG: 9505180826
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BARCO LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Currituck County residents can get in their digs next Thursday when ground is formally broken at the new Currituck County High School site.
Tuesday evening, the Board of Commissioners told the county school board to proceed with contract signings for a 159,455-square-foot brick facility scheduled to be constructed next to the existing school in Barco.
Commissioners said they would fund the most expensive building in county history at a ``mutually agreeable contract bid'' not to exceed $16,495,572.
That figure will include construction costs, furnishings and architectural fees.
A ceremonious start for the project will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 25.
``We'd like the entire community to come and bring a shovel and help us break ground,'' Mary Ellen Maxwell, chairwoman of the Board of Education, said Wednesday. ``I thought it would be nice to have the community be a piece of this history.''
Currituck taxpayers have a large stake in the structure. Voters approved paying for the project with school construction bonds, which will raise property taxes. Community input was instrumental in some of the features sketched into building plans.
Although the school project finally has received a green light, Maxwell said Wednesday that students most likely will move into their new building later than expected. Schools officials now anticipate a mid-September opening date, about a month later than originally planned.
Part of the delay was caused by the project having to be rebid earlier this spring. The first offer, which was $3.7 million more than expected, was rejected after the contractor was let go by its parent company.
A second round of soliciation yielded a lower bid. But the project also had been scaled back. The new high school no longer will include a round roof or brown bricks, among other things.
Contractors have said they can build the school within 15 months.
Maxwell said the school board will discuss options - such as delaying the 1996-97 school opening - at future meetings, when a firmer completion date is known.
The current high school will be converted into a junior high. Knapp Junior High will become an elementary school.
For now, the school board is glad to finally be getting the project, already 1-1/2 years in the making, off the ground.
``It's a very exciting feeling,'' Maxwell said. ``It'a a reality now. It's going to happen.'' by CNB