Inside Look At BISD's First Bond-Bought Buildings

For the first time in 13 years Beaumont ISD is about to build new facilities for its students.  Twenty-one million of the $389 million bond voters approved last year will come in the form of dozens of new classrooms at Fletcher elementary, West Brook and Central high schools.  Ashley Rodrigue has an inside look at what your children will be learning in next year and the new technology saving BISD both time and money.

Most consider concrete the ideal material for side walks, driveways and streets, but for schools?  Fibrebond, a pre-cast concrete production company based out of Minden, Louisiana, near Shreveport, says it's spent the past decade using the material as a time saving, economical, top quality alternative for school districts across the country.

"This is where we've been casting Fletcher..."

The Beaumont Independent School District is the latest to use the innovative method to further its future at Fletcher elementary, West Brook and Central High Schools where new classroom additions are set to relieve overcrowding previously resolved with portable buildings.  The three day pre-casting process begins with special-mixed concrete poured into pre-made iron outlines of floors, walls and roofs.

Vice President of Operations at Fibrebond, Doug Kochenderfer said, "You're talking about an 8-inch thick exterior wall, 2-inches of insulation then a four-inch additional interior concrete skin. These buildings are rated for very high wind loads, hurricane type wind loads. Beaumont has specified windows that go in these things to make them hurricane rated, a high wind rated building down there."

Kochenderfer says the time saving advantages of Fibrebond's process begins even at this stage in the classroom creation.  The entire process takes place in a large warehouse, keeping production in full swing regardless of weather conditions. Kochenderfer says concrete usually takes up to 48 hours to dry. Fibrebond's system has the pieces ready for placement in 18 hours.

Kochenderfer says the carousel cycle continues with the connection of all of the pre-cast pieces into one half of the room. Then the finishing touches, including painting and installing floor tiles, are applied down the line.  This part of the process is a favorite of Charles Trim.  He's a 1989 graduate of West Brook High School.

Trim said, "I like the things we're doing here in Minden, to give the kids a better generation for their future, which I actually wish we could have had these models when I was actually there in high school."

Kochenderfer said, "When we ship a building out of here, its got the ceiling grid in it, the walls are painted, the white boards are hung on the building, the floor tiles in the building, the lights are in, electrically it's all wired up.  We're ready to set the other half right next to it, attach those two halves together by welding them together.  You grout up the end walls to cover up those connection points, put in the last two rows of floor tile, put in the last two rows of ceiling tile, patch the walls where you did the connection, put the final coat of paint on the outer walls and that classroom is really ready to occupy when you get it hooked up to services"

Kochenderfer says the security and sound proof benefits of a Fibrebond building make the classrooms ideal learning environments for children. But the maintenance advantages for the district are much greater and even protects the district from its own community.

"It's concrete, it doesn't provide feed for termites and bugs so you're gonna get a building that's going to last for a long time," he said, "It's a good product to put kids in in the end and we enjoy doing it, we take probably as much pride in doing and delivering this product as the schools and teachers and administrators that inhabit these buildings will take down at the other end."

"I think you're gonna end up with a superior product delivered very quickly to the job site and people are going to be surprised what they see coming down the road"

Preparations for the additions are already under way at all three campuses.  You can expect to see the additions arrive on-site in the next two weeks, and all three projects are expected to be complete and ready for school by July 15th.