By Gerri Miller
Elmore/Autauga News
The Elmore County Board of Education awarded a $2.9 million bid to Pemberton, Inc. of Montgomery Wednesday to construct a new Holtville Child Development Center.
“The children from the development center are currently housed in Holtville Elementary School,” said School Superintendent Richard Dennis. “Holtville Elementary has grown tremendously and this new center will free up space for classrooms.”
“Now that this is approved, we will follow up with all of the contract work needed with the company,” he said.
The new facility will have a secure vestibule, a covered dining area for lunches, a secure fenced-in playground, a large parking lot with covered drop-off for students, large windows for natural light, and centrally located restrooms.
Terri Carrico was director of the program for more than 10 years and is now supervisor for Elmore County’s child development program. She said the Holtville program was started with just two classrooms located in the first grade hall of the elementary school.
“With the addition to the school, we moved to four classrooms on the kindergarten hall,” she said. “We currently have 2 PreK3 classes and 2 PreK4 classes, 60 preschoolers total in our full day preschool program and 63 children grades K-6 in our afterschool program. We have had to get creative over the years to make the most of our space, creating an enriching environment for our children to thrive in.”
Carrico said the program has a long waiting list for both the preschool and afterschool programs. “We have people who call and add their children to the K-3 list as soon as their children are born,” she said. “With our new facility with double the classrooms we will be able to serve so many more families in the Holtville community as well as provide some new job opportunities.”
Carrico said Aimee Mehearg is the current director of the program and was previously a K-4 teacher. “To utilize our current space to the fullest, the Director has used a small portion of one of our four classrooms as an office area,” Carrico said. “It will be so nice to have an actual office space for our Director. We are very excited about having a covered outdoor area to utilize for outdoor activities. We have been hoping for a bigger facility for some time now and can’t wait for our new building to become a reality!”
Dennis said he is unsure when ground will be broken for the project but is hoping for completion before the new school year starts. Most construction projects are currently experiencing delays due to labor shortages, rising costs and supply chain disruptions.
The Board also accepted the low bid of $16,734.25 from H&H Truck Outdoor of Montgomery for truck accessories. The money will be spent for spray-in bedliners, ladder-rack stepboards for five 2021 pickups purchased for the maintenance department.
The Board also rescinded a bid for the re-roofing of Wetumpka High School, the Old Wetumpka Junior High School gym, and the 8th grade wing. The $513,953 bid was rescinded because insurance for GMC Blue Service Inc. of Norcross, Ga. could not be secured. The second-lowest bidder, E. Cornell Malone Corp. of Irondale, was awarded the bid in the amount of $557,000.
Upcoming dates to remember include:
November 16- Annual Called Board Meeting (Teacher of the Year starts at 4 p.m.)- Boardroom
November 22-26- Thanksgiving Holidays-schools closed
December 14 – Regular Called Meeting-Holtville Middle School
December 20-January 3, 2022- Christmas Holidays- schools closed
