Richard Lee Williams High School is to be the second comprehensive high school in the town of Kingman, Arizona

Kingman, Arizona

Kingman is located in a desert climate on the edge of the Mojave Desert, but its higher elevation and location between the Colorado Plateau and the Lower Colorado River Valley tempers summer high temperatures and contributes to winter cold and rare snowfall. Summer daytime highs reach above 90 °F ...

, operated by the Kingman Unified School District. It was not opened for the 2011-12 school year due to concerns about finances and monetary sustainability.

It is named for Richard Lee Williams, a former school principal and firefighter who died while fighting the Doxol disaster in 1973. The school mascot will be the Volunteers, and colors will include red.

Background

In 1917, Mohave County Union High School opened. It later became the old campus of Kingman High School. In 1993, a new Kingman High School North campus was opened for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Freshmen attended the old ("South" school). As the population of Kingman continued to grow, Kingman North became the permanent high school. Kingman South was converted to White Cliffs Middle School. Kingman High, a campus built for 1,600 students, currently houses 2,059 students. This overcrowding made it clear that Kingman needed a second high school.

Remodeling

At the start of February 2010, workers began to gut the old White Cliffs. (The middle school moved to a brand new campus.) A $22 million, 17-month project thus began to convert, remodel, and update White Cliffs into a new, second comprehensive high school for Kingman. The main White Cliffs campus, or "Building A", was stripped of its wiring, plumbing, and wall panels. The cafeteria was demolished and replaced with a new one, and a new campus quad was installed. (The gymnasium, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, remains, but was be complemented with a new auxiliary gym.) Asbestos removal (the only piece of the project not done by a local contractor) was also performed.

Another component of the remodel was the refurbishing of an old auto shop for career/technical education use, including metalworking and other arts classes.

Immediate enrollment projections from the Kingman Unified School District see the school with 1,010 students. It is expected that both schools will eventually have an equal enrollment over time.

The renovation will preserve some elements of the past, such as the "Mohave County Union High School 1917" monument sign, as well as the aforementioned gym.

Construction was expected to finish by July 1, 2011. However, the district did not get possession of the site until October 3 because of Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues.

Opening delayed

As Arizona's budget situation worsened, concern over whether the Kingman Unified School District had the funds to operate Lee Williams emerged. The decision was pushed back to March 2011; at that time, and by a 3-2 vote, the district voted not to open the school for the 2011-12 school year. Worries include additional budget cuts to the school district.

Open house

Even though it was empty, it was completed by October 2011, when an open house was held.