INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — School Board, County Commissioners and School District staff gathered Tuesday morning on 57th Street, just west of 64th Avenue and Storm Grove Middle School to commemorate the starting construction of the new $7.3 million J.A. Thompson Administrative Center.
The new complex will replace the center the School District has been operating out of for the last three decades and used to be the Indian River hospital before that, built in 1950.
“The building we’re in is crumbling around us,” said Schools Superintendent Dr. Fran Adams.
Though the School Board has been discussing what to do about the current building – fix it up or build brand new – since 2008, it wasn’t until this year that a final decision was made.
School Board Chair Carol Johnson recalled that when she served on the School Board back in 1980, the Board complained about the conditions of the building but that they were just happy to have a building.
Prior to moving into the vacated hospital, the School District offices were held in portables and a tiny concrete building, Johnson said.
The School Board’s plans for the new complex was a topic of many School Board candidate forums this election cycle, drawing criticism from two candidates and support from two others, including incumbent Karen Disney-Brombach, who did not speak publicly during the ground breaking ceremony.
No other School Board candidates were at the event.
“It’s like building a Tiffany box for your iMac,” District 1 candidate Shawn R. Frost said while on the campaign trail. He said the justification he’s heard for the new building is to protect the District’s $3 million servers, which he suggested could be housed elsewhere in vacant commercial property the District could acquire for less than building new.
Frost is challenging Disney-Brombach for the District 1 seat on the School Board.
District 4 candidate Randy Heimler said while campaigning that he could agree with the Board’s decision to build anew after having walked through what used to be the hospital. He also said that what he couldn’t understand was why the Indian River County Government didn’t include the School District Administration Building in its plans when it built its new complex across the street.
The Indian River County Government used to be located in the hospital with the School Board prior to building its new complex and demolishing the portion of hospital building it had once resided in.
District 4 candidate Searcy said while campaigning that he didn’t see a reason to build new – just fix the problems.
“I’m just an ol’ country boy,” fix the roof and exterminate the rats – the reasons he’s heard why the Board decided to build anew.
Both Heimler and Searcy are seeking to fill Johnson’s seat on the School Board.
For her part, Disney-Brombach said while campaigning that she continues to support the Board’s decision to build the new center, explaining that the District estimated it would cost $4 million to make the necessary repairs and improvements to harden the building – a building the School District leases from the County – and, if there were a breach of the building, the District could face more than $7 million in liability expenses.
“I’m not going to apologize for voting for that,” she said during a candidate forum. “I think it was the right thing to do.”
The School Board voted earlier this year to allocate $1.57 million left over from the Storm Grove Middle School and Support Services Complex construction projects toward the new administration center, as well as another $1 million from the proceeds of having sold the former Osceola Magnet School site property and other District-owned land.
Site and construction crews are preparing the site for the project and construction is expected to begin sometime late September or early October. Construction is scheduled to take 10 to 12 months.