The new pre-K through 8 school on Highway 48 will be called Eastman Academy, Halifax County Schools Superintendent Eric Cunningham told commissioners Monday.
He said the county school board made that decision in June.
Currently, barring weather, the system is ahead and construction is moving along, he said.
“We’re at the point where we have to widen Highway 48. The design is now with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for approval,” he said. “We have been in contact with the landowner about the road agreement. Surveyors have flagged the road to show its impact.”
The issue at Highway 48 is a blindspot that has to be addressed.
In response to a question from Commissioner Carolyn Johnson about the road issue, Cunningham said, “We have built that issue into the design-build process. We’re now at the part of it where we need to start talking to the landowner about it. We had to talk to NCDOT first. They’re the ones giving us strict guidelines that must be followed. The hill has to be moved.”
Tony Alston, director of school operations, told the board, the biggest concern is weather. “If we have 20 rain days in a month that could push it out but right now we’re on track even with the rain days and we’re going to remain under budget. We don’t want to come back and ask you for any more money.”
Cunningham said he is using the project as a learning opportunity for county fifth-graders. “It will be an active construction site and three or four times over the year I’m actually going to bring the fifth-graders out.”
With an initiative the superintendent calls the junior contracting program, “I’m turning this into a little industrial field trip. We’re going to hear from the site superintendent. I’m going to give them all a little level. They’re going to learn some things about all of the wonderful jobs that are available out there.”
In updating the board about the project, Cunningham said he is modifying his strive for five educational philosophy to the five pillars of construction.
“The first pillar is the demolition and I’m pleased to show that process has been completed.
Pillar number two is the underground and that is in progress. That’s where your footings come in
Phase three is vertical. That’s the exciting piece when you start to see the walls being erected and the foundation blocks being laid.”
The fourth pillar is the finishing and then the landscaping is the fifth.
The current timeline is for the foundation and footings to begin around September 20; the underground rough-in around October 29; and the concrete slabs on November 12.
Steel delivery is expected on January 28. “I can’t wait for the steel to be delivered. The structural steel marks the end of the vertical phase. There will be a beam-signing. That last beam will be hoisted at the ceremony.”
Several factors were cited which stated the need for a new school in the western part of the county when a Needs-based Public School Capital Fund grant application was submitted by the county.
Those factors included:
Two small and aging elementary schools in the area.
Limited access to resources.
Middle school students in the western part of the county having bus rides over an hour each way to William R. Davie Middle School outside Roanoke Rapids.
