Plans for new grades, cost considered by trustees
Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School is in its second year and is pondering plans to possibly purchase its facility at what was St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on West Second Street.
The school is currently renting the building from the church. St. Paul’s United Methodist Church recently consolidated with First United Methodist Church on East Second Street and is now called Clarksdale United Methodist Church.
Since Clarksdale United Methodist Church uses the building that was FUMC, the charter school is looking to purchase the former St. Paul’s United Methodist Church’s property.
Members of the church board attended the Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School board meeting Monday night to find out when they would receive an offer to buy the property.
“First, let me apologize,” said Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School board member Chuck Rutledge, who is also the facilities committee chair. “We fully intended to have been talking to you guys about a hard number for your property long before now.”
Rutledge said the process has just taken time as the school has some decisions to make before it can make an offer to buy the church’s property.
“Ultimately, we will need somewhere between 60,000- to 75,000-square-feet of space, including (the current building),” he said. “So one of the big variables that we’re wrestling with is how much new construction we will need. This is a development project. It’s a $6-, $7-, $8-million development project, so it’s a big deal for us. And a big deal for this town.”
Rutledge said the biggest piece of the budget will go toward constructing a new building on the land the church currently owns. He added there are also architecture, engineering and legal fees.
Currently, Rutledge said he is talking to two charter school development consultants. The one that is ultimately hired will help the board determine how best to spend its money.
“In our procurement procedures, we have to have multiple bids, proposals to compare numbers and make sure that we’re purchasing the right services for our project,” Rutledge said. “We’re not obligated to take the low price. We’re obligated to take the best value.
“Those are the groups that we need to help us analyze our program,” he added. “Do we really need 15,000-square-feet of new build or can we live with 35,000-square-feet of new build?”
Even if the consultant hired is not used throughout the entire construction process, Rutledge said the board would still get an idea of how much it could afford to pay for the land.
“We really have to get that pinned down in order for us to land on an acquisition number that makes sense for our development,” Rutledge said.
Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School board chair Aurelia Jones-Taylor talked about the importance of doing things right.
“It’s not a decision that you make lightly because it is long-term,” she said.
“It has to be planned really well and we have to consider the financial piece of it to make it come together.”
Rutledge said the existing building is 23,000-square-feet and the school currently enrolls kindergarteners through third graders. The plan is to add one grade each year until the schools has kindergarteners through eighth graders.
He said a new building would be needed by the time fifth graders are at the school. He noted the project may be completed in two phases – one building for fifth and sixth graders and another for seventh and eighth graders.
How much the school pays to construct new buildings will impact how much it can afford to pay for the property.
“The more we pay for the property, the less we’ll have to build the building and vice versa,” Rutledge said. “If we pay more for the land, we’re going to be squeezed on what we can put in the building.
“There is a balance,” he explained. “They all affect one another.”
