Community & News

Gladewater ISD Selects Construction Manager for New School
Posted: Sunday, August 10, 2014 
By Bridget Ortigo 

Gladewater ISD is making progress on a $35 million bond election, having secured a company to oversee the construction of the district’s new middle school and renovations at its intermediate school.

Trustees hired RLM General Contractors of Longview to manage the construction, which is slated to start this winter.

Gladewater ISD taxpayers in May approved a $35 million bond election to build a $27 million middle school and to spend about $7 million on renovations at Weldon Intermediate School so it can house second through fifth-graders.

Second- and third-graders now attend Broadway Elementary School, which will be eliminated after the renovations at Weldon.

Construction is set to start in December at the intermediate campus and January for the new middle school.

The district plans to sell the old middle school property or lease it if a sale cannot be completed, said Superintendent J.P. Richardson. The old Broadway Elementary building would be either sold, leased or used for campus support services.

The district’s new middle school building design is planned to consist of about 115,000 square feet.

The building will have space to accommodate about 450 students in sixth through eighth grades, 17 classrooms and two science labs, according to construction firm owner Casey Beddingfield.

The new school also will have two gyms, one for practice and the other for competition.

The addition at Weldon Intermediate School will consist of about 28,000 square feet that adds two more grade levels to the campus and includes remodeling other parts of the facility, Beddingfield said.

“The new addition will consist of 14 new classrooms, including a kitchen, dining room, music room, special education room and a life skills classroom,” Beddingfield said.

The school board decided to hire RLM General Contractors after also hearing proposals from Jackson Construction and WRL Construction.

“They’ve done a lot of work in our area and have a very good reputation,” Richardson said.

“They do not have a big project right now, so they have the time and manpower to devote all their attention to the district.”

The firm’s locally completed projects include Longview ISD’s new Forest Park and Foster Middle School, as well as new athletic facilities for Sabine ISD and Harleton ISD.

Other construction projects in area cities include Lear Park, Mobberly Baptist Church’s The Bridge and a new worship center for Forest Home Baptist Church in Kilgore.

The middle school is projected to be completed by August 2016 while the intermediate additions are expected to be done by Aug. 20, 2015, Beddingfield said.