7/28 The Future Of South Park Middle School Is Still In...

Reported by: Brandon Jones
Tuesday, Jul 28, 2009 @09:02pm CST


The future of South Park Middle School has caused a heated debate.

Former students and the Beaumont Heritage Society want to save the building.

The district wants to tear it down and build a new campus.

Attorney Mike Getz feels renovations would do more than preserve history.

He's feels saving the campus would save bond dollars.

"My experts tell me that when you start with a structure with a good foundation you can actually save some cost as oppose to starting from scratch and building a new." Getz said.

BISD Attorney Melody Chappell says that it was always the intent of the board to build a new school for the more than 700 kids that would attend South Park.

But Getz says the district never informed voters it planned to knock down South Park.

The district presented evidence stating they considered seven recommendations in the bond package, and one was to demolish South Park.

The district says a cost analysis was done and demolition was found more feasible.

"This is not a historical landmark as the judge was led to believe earlier and there are no restrictions on the ultimate decision on whether to demolish this building. That's left up the school district." Chappell said.

Getz says the district hasn't detailed exactly how this cost analysis was done.

If the school is renovated, the district says it will still need additional space.

The district says if the South Park is replaced, it could cost between $27 to 42 million.

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