Flagler begins work on Bunnell Elementary
By Janette Neuwahl- Staff writer.

Bunnell-The Flagler County School district is about to write a few large checks.
Flagler School Board members gave the go-ahead for the district to spend nearly $20 million Friday to build a new Bunnell Elementary School and a state-of-the-art bus that will bring technology to students who don’t have computers at home.
School Board members approved a $19.6 million contract with Barton Malow to replace Bunnell Elementary, Flagler’s oldest school. The entire school project will cost about $29.9 million, including $6.5 million for a 32-classroom addition that was installed last summer.
Facilities director Gene Tanner said the schedule requires the school to be built by July 2008. It should be perfect timing for Bunnell pupils to start the 2008 school year in their new facility, Tanner said.

Construction at Bunnell to build the new sections will start in two weeks, tanner said. When the building is done, it will house a new administration suite, a new library, gym and cafeteria. Twelve classrooms will be on the second floor or the administration building.
The district will also order a mobile computer classroom in a few weeks to help the Make-It-and Take-It program expand to the far reaches of Flagler County. The program is designed to bridge the digital divide between students with home computers and those without them by teaching kids how to build and operate computers. They do this on recycled computers donated by companies and government agencies and at the end of the program, pupils can keep the machines.

The idea of getting a bus came from Make-It and Take-It program director Veronica Maggs, who said her pupils often have trouble getting to the class-located at the Corporate plaza building off Palm Coast Parkway-because they have no transportation.
Maggs even learned to drive a school bus this year so she could pick up students and drive them to he classroom, but Maggs said they missed extra class time due to the commute. And program participation was limited to high school students. Now, Maggs plans to take the bus to community centers in the rural neighborhoods of Espanola and Daytona North, she said.
“This will enable me to become a lot more efficient and to reach many more students because I can get to them,” she said.

For the bus, the district is chipping in $155.210 and Bright House Networks is donating $55,000, Maggs said. In addition, Apple Computers is donating 12 laptops and a teacher’s computer to outfit the mobile classroom.

The bus will look similar to Volusia County’s career connections vehicle inside, only it will teach students how to use technology and not just focus on helping them choose a career path, she said. The bus will also serve as an emergency office for the school district, should its headquarters have to move because of a hurricane, Maggs said.
The bus should be in Flagler seven to 10 months from when it is ordered, said the district’s purchasing director, Carmen Campanella. The vehicle will be making its way around the county in early 2008.