Higley to begin construction on $2.45 million warehouse

The Higley Unified School District is about to build a $2.45 million warehouse to accommodate district growth and handle operations more efficiently.

Construction is to begin in February on the 17,000-square-foot warehouse, which will be built on district land east of the district office at 2935 S. Recker Road in Gilbert and north of Higley High School’s football field.

The long-awaited warehouse was “contemplated” in the 2003 and 2006 bond issues, so it will be funded by both bonding sources and should be finished in June, said Fred Stone, the district’s executive director of support services.

“We’re excited. It’s one of the many dominoes needed for the district to get to its planned 12 or 13 (elementary schools),” he said.

“To support additional schools as they are constructed, the operational support must be in place to staff, to supply and to operate each campus,” Stone said. “That continued development as the district grows is a challenge, but also is a great opportunity.”

The warehouse will free up space at the district office and Higley High, and will serve the district’s needs for the next 30 to 50 years, Stone said.

It will securely store district records, test materials, equipment and paper currently stored in a 7,000-square-foot assembly area at the district office, which opened in November 2006.

This part of the district office is unfinished, with exposed concrete, walls and ceilings.

Curriculum supplies will also move to the warehouse from the assembly area. The warehouse will have a curriculum room where the materials will be put into kits for teachers.

Once the assembly area is cleared, it will be converted into office space. The district rents offices elsewhere and also has employees working out of the old district office at Vest Avenue and Higley Road, Stone said.

“We’ll be able to redistribute (district employees) where they need to be,” he said.

The warehouse will house a mailroom, which will also move from the district office, and a copy room, which will move from Higley High, Stone said.

The governing board approved construction of the warehouse at its Nov. 28 meeting.

A couple of board members wanted to make sure the warehouse was not restricting needed construction throughout the district, and voted against approving the warehouse at the Nov. 14 board meeting until more information was given.

Board member Venessa Whitener was especially vocal about the issue, saying she had problems accepting the warehouse when the district needed extra classroom space.

“I just wanted to make sure we have enough money for this warehouse, and not have it take away from things needed for our schools,” she said at the study session.