Dunlap schools may soon have a new $8.5 million indoor training center for sports and other extracurricular activities.
Dunlap superintendent Scott Dearman told the school board Thursday the district's 10,000-square-foot activity center and the five middle school and high school gyms can't handle the growing demands for space.
"If you come during basically any time of the year, you'll find kids in our hallways doing something extracurricular ... whether it be the dance team, cross country, track and field," he said, noting Dunlap's champion wrestling team currently practices in a balcony area of the high school gym.
The proposed 42,500-square-foot facility would be at the southwest intersection of Legion Hall Road and Cedar Hills Drive, near the high school.
"You're looking at 3,568 students impacted by this facility," Dearman said. "And that may be a little low, but that's certainly a good starting point to give the impact that this facility would have."
The building would have three basketball courts, an area for pole vaulting and long jumping, and a dance room. One storage area would have a cut-out for an indoor golf simulator. Dearman acknowledged the proposed 160-meter indoor track falls short of the 200-meter "gold standard," but said money and available space are also factors to consider.
Dearman said the project would be funded from $38 million the district has in reserve.
A new Wilder-Waite Grade School also is in the works. The current school houses about 350 students. Plans call for expanding capacity to 600.
The district was going to fund that construction by asking voters via referendum to approve a bond issue. But Dearman said a new law now allows districts to build new elementary schools without taking that step, as long as the project meets certain criteria.
That includes building a new standalone facility, expanding pre-K programs, and having the debt capacity to take on the project. Dearman said the district currently could take issue more than $100 million in new debt.
Alternatively, the district could seek to issue bonds, but offset some of the borrowing costs by tapping into its robust treasury.
The school board is expected to vote on both issues in July.
