91��Ƭ��

Bailey getting 10 new classrooms

When the Citizens Board Oversight Committee met at Bailey Junior High recently to start preparing its annual report for the 91��Ƭ�� Board of Trustees, they first got a tour of the big ongoing construction project at the school.

The 2019 Bond project at Bailey is bringing major changes to the campus, but the project takes time.

“They’re doing as much as they can when we’re not here – so Christmas, Thanksgiving … they even worked over Easter,” said Bailey principal Jason Davis to the CBOC committee members. “They’re trying to find every available minute they can. The work list for the summer is long, so they’re trying to reduce as much of that as they can right now.”

Classroom addition at Bailey Junior High

A lot has been done since the project started over a year ago. Two large additions are nearly dried in (meaning the roof is on and the inside is protected from the weather), and the redone drive and parking lot out front was completed last summer. Buses now use the drive and no longer have to cue on Winewood Lane, which has improved traffic.

Student traffic in the cafeteria is going to improve once the project is done. One of the additions is expanding the cafeteria and kitchen, which will allow the school to move from three lunch periods to two. Seating will increase by 100, and the larger kitchen will provide a bigger freezer/cooler, expanded prep area and bigger service area. The increase in size is much needed as the number of students who get school meals is much larger now than when Bailey originally opened in 1968.

The cafeteria/kitchen addition will also include a concession stand and restrooms to serve the students and families using the track and field. Other 91��Ƭ�� junior highs are getting a freestanding concession/restroom building for their tracks and fields. But Bailey’s athletic facilities are closer to the building than at other schools, so including the concession stand and restrooms in the cafeteria/kitchen addition makes sense.

Outdoor corridor at Bailey Junior High is getting enclosed

If you’ve been to the Bailey cafeteria, you know that you have to walk outside to get to the entrance. The outdoor covered corridor that provides access to the lunchroom and circles the building’s interior courtyard is getting enclosed in this construction project. Students and staff won’t have to go outside anymore to get around campus.

The other addition at Bailey is giving the school a new front entrance at the southeast corner of the campus along with 10 new classrooms and an ADA elevator. It also includes a storm shelter that can accommodate the entire student and staff population. Outside, the parking lot on the east side of campus is also being redone.

The construction this summer won’t just focus on the additions. The existing building will get improvements as well, with new ceilings, lighting, doors, hardware and sprinkler system.

“It’s going to be freshened up and look good,” said Kelly Horn, 91��Ƭ�� assistant superintendent of facility services. “Of course we’ll leave the terrazzo [floors].”

Much of the construction and renovations will be done in time for students to return to school in August, but the entire project will last into the fall.

of the additions.