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Santa Rosa To Borrow Millions To Build New Jay High School
December 1, 2009
Santa Rosa County will borrow about $12.6 million to build a new main building at Jay High School and construct a new kitchen at Central School.
The Santa Rosa County School board approved the $12,585,000 loan for both projects at a special meeting on Monday. The $12.6 million will fund the acquisition, construction and equipping of Jay High School as well as the additions to Central School. The yearly repayment on the loan will be about $1.1 million with an interest rate of 4.11 percent from Suntrust Bank.
Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis caused extensive cracks to appear in the walls of Jay High, prompting the installation of over five dozen braces in the school’s 48,000 square foot main building north of the gym.
Plans call for an 80,000 square foot building to be constructed north of the Jay gym. It will included classrooms, media center, art lab, music suite, cafeteria and administrative area. Construction is expected to begin by March of 2010 and be complete in about 18 months. The building will also be used as a hurricane shelter for the Jay community.
The current building will be demolished or partially salvaged.
Comments
6 Responses to “Santa Rosa To Borrow Millions To Build New Jay High School”
New school additions are definitely ugly and seem to be very much the same not matter which school it is.
I’m wondering how the kitchen will be for Central. Probably something that should have been done a long time ago. Well before the new gym add ons. But, we all know what’;s most important for schools :athletics.
Jay Girl the style of building that will be built is refered to an ” AMSPACHER Special”. Years ago the architectural firm “Amspacher & Amspacher”, the school districts sole source archtitect, sold this design to the school board and as a result that is all the school board will ever get due to ” Old School Cronies”. Now STOA Architects are the ones who designed the new school and guess what Mr. Amspacher works for them and guess what else, he designed the new school. So here we go again with another cookie cutter institution with no individual character that once gave people pride in their school and community. Yes, another brown box!
While the newer schools are state of the art in other parts of the county. The “art” has certainly been taken out of the design/architecture. Just look how they defaced the old school at Central/Allentown. I know that sometimes you “just have to be practical” but lack of design and architecture just further “institutionalizes” our children so the system can “mainstream” them.. These are the buzz words dujour. I guess by being $12.6 million we will just have browner boxes.
If you’re going to estimate, estimate high.
If people are willing to pay the higher figure, they will be happy with the lower actual cost.
If you estimate low and then say, oops, need a few million more, folks feel they’ve been tricked.
Usually, they have been.
It is also possible they gave the initial estimate with lots of bells and whistles they later decided were an unjustified use of taxpayer money.
David who enjoyed the parade
This is an interesting turn of events. Initial estimates we were provided said the new high school would be in the range of $15 million. Now, for the sum of $12.6 million, we are miraculously getting a new school as well as additions to Central. Unless there has been a tremendous reduction in the cost of labor and materials, it appears that we will be getting a second class facility. What else could explain such a reduction in cost? Another example of lack of concern for the north end of Santa Rosa County from the School Board. I am very proud of the new, state-of-the-art schools in our system in the south end of the County. Why could we not get one of the same in the north end?
The interest rate they have obtained is not that great either. Debt service for this loan over time is money out of the system before taxes are collected. One would think that borrowing could be limited given the fact that the School Board’s published FY 2010 budget shows an “Estimated Unreserved Undesignated Fund Balance 06/30/10″ of over $15 million.
A better use of $$ than most.