The Lowndes County School Districts board of trustees sped through a light agenda of routine housekeeping measures, meeting for just 20 minutes before retiring to a brief executive sessions to handle a part of student discipline issues on Friday.
The highlight of the brief meeting came in the first few minutes, when Joey Henderson, of JBHM Architects, updated the board on a variety of school projects.
“The installation of lockers at the New Hope field house is complete,” Henderson told the board. “There are just a few final adjustments being made, but they are functional and ready for us.”
Henderson said the foundation work on the new elementary school in Caledonia is progressing, with half of the concrete slab poured.
Meanwhile, the sewer project at New Hope — which entails tying in the school’s sewer to Columbus Light and Water’s system — is “70-to-80-percent complete.”
“All of the work on the campus has been complete, so we should be able to make the transfer over the Christmas break,” Henderson said.
The biggest project, the district’s $11 million career tech center, is still very much in the early stages, he acknowledged.
“We are working on the career tech program now,” Henderson said. “We’re talking to the people at East Mississippi Community College to discuss how our program will translate into some of the things they are doing. We’ll also be talking to the state department of education about the program and getting their input.”
As for where — and when — the career tech center will be built, it’s still an unsettled matter.
At its Sept. 29 board meeting, the trustees voted to have the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers conduct site tests on one of two potential locations. That site is located on Highway 12, north of Columbus Nissan, Wright said. It is made up of four parcels, all under the same ownership and totaling 18.4 acres.
“It’s only been about 10 days since we made that request, so right now we’re in a holding pattern,” Henderson said.
Pressed on when that testing might be complete by trustee Jacqueline Gray, Henderson said it could be as long as two months before the board learned of the results.
“What we were told is that it would be 45 to 60 days,” Henderson said. “Hopefully, it will be closer to the first number.”
The board has approved $800,000 to purchase land for the site of the center. The land purchased must be at least 12 acres. Henderson had previously told the board he wanted a site to be chosen by August.
On Sept. 15, the district sold $44 million in voter-approved general obligation bonds. LCSD has until September 2018 to spend that money. The $11 million career-technical center was a selling point for the bond issue when presented in May.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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