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Construction continues on Pinemount Elementary School
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| Tim Roberson grouts about 5,000 square feet of floor tile in the kitchen/cafeteria of Pinemount Elementary. He has already grouted about 5,000-6,000 square feet of wall tile. JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter |
School district’s $15 million project to have 5 buildings.
By TROY ROBERTS
troberts@lakecityreporter.com
Construction on the new Columbia School District elementary school, Pinemount Elementary, is on schedule for completion this spring and will be open for the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year, district officials said Wednesday.
The $15 million project, located on a 40 acre site, will consist of five buildings. Construction began on the project in April, and crews are currently on schedule on the 28 classroom facility that will support up to 484 students from pre-K to 5th grade. The complex was designed by BRPH Architects and Engineers.
“We aim for this to become a neighborhood school serving the western part of Columbia County,” said school superintendent Mike Millikin.
Crews are currently finalizing the roofing portion of each of the five buildings, said Mike Null, director of purchasing, and some work is already being done on the interior portions of completed structures. During the course of the next three months, Null said the district will acquire furniture, computers and playground equipment for the new school.
The color scheme for Pinemount also has been decided — the walls will be a vanilla color with blue and gray accents along with a number of wood tones.
Pinemount Elementary School will primarily draw from two existing schools — Summers and Westside elementary schools. Both schools are overcrowded — Summers currently has nearly 900 students, Westside has approximately 733. The district will be rezoned in the spring and some students currently enrolled at those schools will be moved to Pinemount for the 2009-2010 school year.
While both Westside and Summers have received numerous additions over the years — Westside has seen two new expansions since it opened in 2000 for additional classroom space — the growing population has begun to push the limits of both schools, Null said. He said that while you can add classrooms, some of the support buildings — such as cafeterias — are not built to support a larger student population.
Millikin said that he wants the typical elementary school to have no more than 600 students, and the maximum amount of students at any elementary school should be 750.
He said that he expects there to be around 400 students at Pinemount during its inaugural school year.
The site layout was designed in a way to allow for future expansion.
Three years ago, when the project was originally being developed and the population of Lake City was growing at a much quicker rate, the school intended to include a sixth building and the elementary school would have supported nearly 600 students, rather than the current 484. Officials chose not to construct the sixth building, but room exists for that and further expansion to the elementary school.
School district officials also included enough space at the site to add a new middle school in the future that also would include support structures, including a gymnasium and athletic fields. Millikin also said that there is a possibility for a new high school near the site of Pinemount even further down the road.
The $15 million project, located on a 40 acre site, will consist of five buildings. Construction began on the project in April, and crews are currently on schedule on the 28 classroom facility that will support up to 484 students from pre-K to 5th grade. The complex was designed by BRPH Architects and Engineers.
“We aim for this to become a neighborhood school serving the western part of Columbia County,” said school superintendent Mike Millikin.
Crews are currently finalizing the roofing portion of each of the five buildings, said Mike Null, director of purchasing, and some work is already being done on the interior portions of completed structures. During the course of the next three months, Null said the district will acquire furniture, computers and playground equipment for the new school.
The color scheme for Pinemount also has been decided — the walls will be a vanilla color with blue and gray accents along with a number of wood tones.
Pinemount Elementary School will primarily draw from two existing schools — Summers and Westside elementary schools. Both schools are overcrowded — Summers currently has nearly 900 students, Westside has approximately 733. The district will be rezoned in the spring and some students currently enrolled at those schools will be moved to Pinemount for the 2009-2010 school year.
While both Westside and Summers have received numerous additions over the years — Westside has seen two new expansions since it opened in 2000 for additional classroom space — the growing population has begun to push the limits of both schools, Null said. He said that while you can add classrooms, some of the support buildings — such as cafeterias — are not built to support a larger student population.
Millikin said that he wants the typical elementary school to have no more than 600 students, and the maximum amount of students at any elementary school should be 750.
He said that he expects there to be around 400 students at Pinemount during its inaugural school year.
The site layout was designed in a way to allow for future expansion.
Three years ago, when the project was originally being developed and the population of Lake City was growing at a much quicker rate, the school intended to include a sixth building and the elementary school would have supported nearly 600 students, rather than the current 484. Officials chose not to construct the sixth building, but room exists for that and further expansion to the elementary school.
School district officials also included enough space at the site to add a new middle school in the future that also would include support structures, including a gymnasium and athletic fields. Millikin also said that there is a possibility for a new high school near the site of Pinemount even further down the road.
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Interested wrote on Nov 22, 2008 9:02 PM:
Ft. White has operated at more than 600 for years, made AYP 3 years running, scored as an "A" school for 3 years and still is considered beneath the rest of the schools in the county. Interesting article! "