Arkadelphia school board OKs more repairs to AHS roof -

By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com

As rain hammered at the rooftop of Arkadelphia Public Schools’ administrative headquarters in downtown Monday night, Jimmy King’s mind wandered across town to the high school, worried the sudden downpour would leave a watery mess come Tuesday morning.

King, the district’s director of support services, updated the school board on the leaky roof at Arkadelphia High School. The board mulled over a pair of bids from Ketcher and Company Inc. as King explained the need to make costly repairs to a building the district hopes to soon replace.

“Every year the building inspectors come and they complain about the roof,” King said.

The bids — given unanimous approval from the school board — will cover the removal of existing roofing membranes and the installation of new roof decking. Siplast is expected to partner with the school district and furnish the materials, King said.

The two jobs will patch a large swath of the high school, from the gym’s concession area to the cafeteria and math hallway, as well as the art hallway and chemistry lab. Cost of the work will total $140,200. King pointed out that, without Siplast’s aid, the patchwork job would cost roughly twice the bid amount. King also noted that the two areas to be repaired are the worst of four areas identified as needing patchwork. Repairs to the other two areas are to be expected to be addressed later.

**A North Little Rock roofing company will patch the two areas outlined in red and green.**

School board member Matt Johnson questioned the quantity of AHS roof jobs the board has approved since his time as a board member. Johnson was referring to emergency roof repairs above the auxiliary gym (given the OK in February 2024) and the basketball gym’s dressing room area (OK’d in 2022). King replied, “For years all we’ve done is patch … This [project] is a big patch.”

Board member Gina White asked whether the roof repairs would be disruptive to class; she was assured they wouldn’t since the work will take place above the structure’s steel decking.

Arkadelphia school officials weigh purchase options for aging bus fleet

To lease or buy school buses was another topic of debated discussion at the meeting, as King had been directed to research the cost of leasing versus buying. The district is in its final year of a five-year agreement to purchase one bus per year.

The cost of a new school bus is between $130,000-$150,000, while the cost to lease a bus is about $30,000 annually for a 36-month term, with mileage limits written into the agreement.

King said the con to leasing is the district would pay 40-50% of the vehicle’s value and only get about 20-25% of the useful life unless it was purchased at the end of the lease term.

With seven buses that are over 20 years old and have over 200,000 miles, King said buying is the better option. “If we leased buses, we wouldn’t be helping ourselves with our aging fleet,” he said, suggesting the district continue its practice of rotating out old buses for new ones.