Which comes first: The vocational center or the new high school?
As of now, the Lowndes County School District’s two major building projects — a district-wide career tech center in Columbus and a new high school at New Hope — are proceeding at the same pace.
“They’re pretty much on the same schedule right now,” said Joey Henderson of JBHM Architecture, which is overseeing the project for the district.”
Henderson updated the LCSD Board of Trustees during Monday’s school board meeting at New Hope Elementary.
He said both projects will reach an important milestone by the end of the month.
The $11 million career tech center on Lehmberg Road is “really moving along,” Henderson said.
“The block work should be completed … and (the building) actually have a roof on by the end of the month,” he said. “Construction is on schedule and there have been no major issues. We’ve already made exterior and interior color selections, so it’s really beginning to take shape.”
Henderson said the construction phase should be completed by the end of the year. After that, equipment will be moved from existing campuses and new equipment will be arriving and installed.
The $26 million high school is also on schedule, Henderson said.
“We’re about at the halfway point now,” he said. “The block work should be completed by the end of the month and, again, we’ve made the exterior and interior color selections.”
Although the construction work may be completed by the end of the year, LCSD Superintendent Lynn Wright said it is unlikely classes will be held at either facility in the spring of 2018.
“It would be such a rush to get everything move in, especially at the career tech center, that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to try that,” Wright said. “We will, for sure, be in both the high school and career tech center by the fall of 2018.”
Wright said excitement is building as the projects move toward completion.
“It’s just going to provide so many great opportunities for our students,” Wright said.
The career tech center should serve 250 students when it opens, he added.
“We think it will grow to as many as 500 students,” Wright said. “We have the space to accommodate that number and we feel like we’ll get to that point.”
Henderson said a parking lot planned to be located between the new school and football field should be usable by the time football season begins this fall.
“It may not be striped or completely finished, but they’ll be able to use it for football parking this fall,” he said.
The two projects are the last – and most expensive — part of a $44 million bond passed by voters in May 2015. In addition to the vocational center and high school, the bond provided $3 million for upgrades and additions at the Caledonia campus; $1.9 million for a new field house at Caledonia; and $2 million for renovations on the West Lowndes campus.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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