CHARTER SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION RAMPS UP
Josh Troy
The Clarksdale Press Register
Two new Clarksdale College Public Charter School buildings are coming up out of the ground fast at the campus on West Second Street.
A virtual groundbreaking was held in October where plans for the new buildings were unveiled and foundations soon laid. Construction has now moved on to the next level that is out of winter weather.
The trusses and framing can be seen on the new building where there will be a cafeteria and kindergarten classes on the first floor and third through sixth grade on the second floor.
“We’ve made lots of progress,” said executive director Amanda Johnson. “According the team, the beginning months go really fast. There’s just a lot to see with the trusses and framing going up.”
The school will be up and enrolling kindergarteners through sixth graders at the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year.
The other new building on the front of the property will be a library, science classes and an administrative office.
Johnson said the trusses and framing of that building should be completed by the end of December.
“It’s exciting,” Johnson said. “We hope to frame other building that’s in front on West Second.”
Grinder Taber & Grinder Inc. out of Memphis is handling the construction and Office of Jonathan Tate out of New Orleans is the architect.
Phase I of construction is adding those two new buildings and renovating the current building that the school recently purchased from St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on 1012 West Second Street.
Johnson said the goal is to solicit $750,000 from education-minded donors over the next three years to help pay for the new buildings and construction on the facility already being used.
“We still need to raise money,” Johnson said.
Students have been attending school at the old church facility since it opened. As grades were added, new buildings were needed in addition to the current facility being used on the property.
“Everything will be delivered in July,” said Johnson of the new buildings being constructed. “We’ll use the whole campus next year.”
So far, everything has gone as planned as COVID and weather have not caused any problems.
The school currently enrolls kindergarten through fourth graders. When it first opened at the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, there were kindergarteners through second graders. One grade is being added each year until kindergarteners through eighth graders are enrolled with a goal of having 675 students.
Seventy-five students will be in the one grade that is added each year until the school enrolls kindergarten through eighth graders.
More additions will need to be made to accommodate kindergarteners through eighth graders by the 2024-25 school year.
Phase 2 of the project will be another new building for seventh and eighth graders. That will begin sometime after the current construction is completed.
