New Hope High School is getting a new field house.
Lowndes County School District board members voted Friday to spend approximately $2 million on the 16,000-plus square foot building.
Following a presentation from JBHM Architect representative Joey Henderson, board member Wesley Barrett made the motion to pay for the project out of the district’s existing funds. The vote passed 4-1. Board member Jacqueline Gray was opposed.
JBHM will oversee the field house’s construction.
In other business:
■ The board also voted to certify last month’s failed bond vote. Lowndes County voters in late August rejected a $47 million bond issue that would have funded the construction of a new vocational center and new high school, as well as numerous capital improvements throughout the Lowndes County School District. The majority of voters — 51.87 percent — approved the bond. However, the bond needed 60 percent of votes cast to be implemented.
Roughly 942 people voted in favor of the bond, while 873 voted against, according to the Lowndes County Circuit Clerk office.
LCSD Superintendent Lynn Wright has expressed interest in proceeding with the projects that were intended to be paid for by the $47 million bond issue. In addition to the new field house, the projects included a new high school and new middle school on the New Hope campus, a career-tech center, to be used for all campuses and a 1:1 initiative that would give each student an electronic device like a laptop.
■ Gray made a motion to move the board’s monthly meetings to a time in the evening when residents could more readily attend. The motion died for lack of a second.
Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.
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