April 29, 2008 09:49 pm
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By Joe Hadsall
jhadsall@joplinglobe.com
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — Debbie Elbrader, principal of Carl Junction Junior High School, said the thing her students will appreciate most about a new building won’t be its bigger classrooms, bigger halls or the new library.
“The part they think is best is that they will be right by the high school,” she said.
The school district is nearing completion of the 75,000-square-foot junior high and is on track for it to open in August. The building’s western wall is 20 feet from Carl Junction High School, 206 S. Roney St.
When it is open, the school will house the district’s seventh- and eighth-grade students. Sixth-graders will continue to attend the current junior high, which is attached to the building for the fourth and fifth grades.
But if growth keeps up the way it has in Carl Junction, the new building eventually could become part of the high school.
Assistant Superintendent David Stephens said the district’s long-range plan is to make the new school a ninth-grade wing of the high school.
“That wouldn’t happen for another 10 years,” he said.
The two-story building will have 24 bigger classrooms, including four science labs, a consumer sciences lab and an art room. It also will have three computer labs, rooms for choir, band and shop classes, wider halls, a 790-seat gymnasium, and a library.
Modern security features are incorporated into the building’s design, including more than 30 security cameras and a vestibule entrance.
Excessive rain has delayed construction, said architect Jim Latimer. Builders have worked on weekends in order to meet a July deadline.
“We hope that the school can start moving in on July 1,” Latimer said.
$10.3 million
Dalton-Killinger Construction Co. of Joplin won the building contract with a bid of $10.3 million. The bid included construction of new classrooms and a football locker room at the high school.
The project was approved by voters in November 2006 via a $12 million bond issue.
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Photos
Globe/Joe Hadsall
Workers Carl Wilson (left) and Robbie Holland make preparations this week for the installation of brick at the new Carl Junction Junior High School. The building is to be complete in time for the beginning of the next school year.