Hector, Arkansas

When Hector's elementary school principal asked U.S. Department of Energy Senior Financial Specialist Ward Huffman what their priorities should be, Huffman said that they "should buy the dome first" because it offered the most energy savings.

"We're really excited - I could talk about these domes we're building all day," said Tommy Thompson, superintendent of the Hector School District in the small, rural town of Hector, Arkansas.

Hector has less than two hundred families living within its 5.908 square kilometers, but it's building three Monolithic Domes, two for their middle school with grades five through eight and one for its elementary school, kindergarten through grade four.

While the two schools are considered separate campuses, the three domes, each measuring 128' x 34' with a stem wall twelve feet high, will be connected by a conventional structure. John Sanders, Architect, a firm in Camden, Arkansas with 35 years of experience, will do the design.

Connie Whitaker, a clerk with the district's migrant program, first sparked interest in Monolithic Domes among administrators and school board members by supplying them with information she found on the Internet. At that point, Hector's existing facilities needed renovation.

Thompson said, 'Right now, some of our high school grades are using a building that's 70 years old; its energy consumption is very inefficient, so it's very expensive to operate. We have another building that some of the lower grades are using that needs major repair."

As Hector grew more serious in their consideration of Monolithic Domes, they informed various federal and state agencies of their hope to build Monolithic.

Last April 27, representatives from the Hector School District, the state of Arkansas, the U.S. Department of Energy, MDI's President David B. South and Vice President David South, Jr. met in Little Rock specifically to exchange information on the current status of school facilities in America and how better facilities could be built (Roundup, Summer 2000).

Dave Floyd, director of school plant management for the Arkansas Department of Education, said, "We should provide the safest environment for school children. This type (Monolithic Dome) of construction provides the safest facility for children." He said that tornadoes were their "greatest fear," followed by fire and earthquakes.

Referring to existing schools, Floyd said that indoor air quality must be improved, since many of Arkansas' facilities suffered from "sick building syndrome," usually caused by leaking roofs, that lead to rot, mold, and eventually sick children.

Arkansas' State Representative Mike Hathorn and Speaker of the House Bob Johnson said that they wanted Arkansas to be first in the construction of public school buildings safe from natural and nuclear disaster. (Hector is just 25 miles from Arkansas Nuclear One and is the Designated Evacuation Site for the area.)

When Hector's elementary school principal asked U.S. Department of Energy, Senior Financial Specialist Ward Huffman what their priorities should be, Huffman said that they "should buy the dome first" because it offered the most energy savings, then use geothermal heating and cooling, and use solar if they can get a grant.

That meeting solidified Hector's determination to go Monolithic. Thompson said, We were looking for three things and the domes provide all three:

1. Safety for the kids and the community - Potential dangers are a tornado, earthquake and nuclear mishap. The domes will serve as our disaster shelters. Our local emergency services - fire and police - have our complete cooperation.

2. Energy efficiency - We have to save money on our heating and cooling, Thompson said. "We wanted to use a fuel cell that would let us produce our own electricity, but there are no units made large enough to serve a structure the size of the domes we're planning. We're now considering solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling, which costs more to install but saves money in the long run.

3. Longevity - We want buildings with a life span measured in centuries rather than years,"

Thompson said. In their research, Thompson and various Hector representatives visited other Monolithic Dome schools and talked with their administrators. "Without fail, each told us how great the energy savings were and how economically they operated," Thompson said. "They very honestly told us about problems they encountered too. Leaks at venting penetrations through the ceiling were often mentioned, so we're venting through the stem walls. Acoustical problems were also mentioned. We're handling that by installing false ceilings and acoustical material"

Love, educate, accept, reach and nurture them. That's the mission statement the Hector School District and its community strive to follow. The Monolithic Domes they plan to complete and open for the beginning of the 2001 school year are very much a part of that mission.

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Editor's Note: As of July 20, 2001, Hector School District is not building a Monolithic™ Dome, but rather, an uninsulated concrete dome. We believe these domes are being built using an inferior and riskier construction method. We also know the buildings being constructed will not have a fraction of the energy efficiency of the Monolithic Dome we proposed and what the school district thought they were getting. Read more...

Related Links:

How To Buy a Monolithic Dome School-- A Letter to All Superintendents
Monolithic Domes Help Pass School Bonds
Thoughts on the Bidding Process for Construction of New Schools
Monolithic Dome School Pricing-- How Much Does a Monolithic Dome School Cost?
Making the Grade
Free Educational Facility Project Evaluation

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