The Oglethorpe County Board of Education discussed plans for summer renovations at Oglethorpe County High School during its Tuesday meeting.
The work would include painting hallways and classrooms, retiling certain sections of the school, removing lockers and installing window tint for safety.
“I think we’re all in agreement — 100% — something needs to be done,” BOE member Jake Willcox said.
Funding for the windows would come from the safety grant, while the funding for the remainder of the renovations would come from leftover Oglethorpe County Elementary School construction funds.
Due to the work, summer school will be moved to a location to be decided later.
The BOE also approved three speed bumps for the Oglethorpe County Elementary School parking lot.
“We had a lot of traffic going through there at various times in the day,” Superintendent Beverley Levine said.
Paul Thiel, the school system’s director of operations, said the traffic coming in from the road to the school runs by two playground areas.
The speed bump installation will include signs to help slow traffic at a total cost of $16,520 from the safety grant budget.
The board also approved the purchase of a 2023 Chevrolet Suburban that will be used by the school system as needed.
“We’re going to get a larger car, SUV, so we can use it to transport students without having to have a CDL to drive,” Board Chair Becky Soto said.
The cost of $44,157 will come from the transportation budget.
“We wanted to transport students to the health center, we’re running low on our activity buses and we don’t have another vehicle other than someone needing a CDL to drive a bus,” Levine said.
The board will have a tentative budget by the April 28 meeting and hopes to have the final budget approved by the June 2 meeting.
In other news:
The BOE recognized five of Georgia’s Young Author winners from OCMS and OCHS. They include Tha Kho Min Ga Yah (sixth grade), Madeline Holtzleiter (seventh grade), Isabella Southall (eighth grade), Novalie Hokanson (ninth grade) and Venus LaParr (11th grade).
- The board also recognized STAR Student Kayden Watkins and STAR Teacher Jennifer Yauck. “We always appreciate the opportunities that we have to see parents and teachers and their students, and to celebrate the amazing products of Oglethorpe County schools,” Soto said.