Sumter County officials close land deal for new high school
New facility will be located along South Georgia Tech Parkway
From left, Sumter County Schools Superintendent Torrance Choates, Sumter School Board of Education Chairman Michael Busman, attorney Jimmy Skipper, Sumter County Development Authority Chairman Paul Hall and Development Authority Secretary Alex Saratsiotis take part in a recent land acquisition signing ceremony for Sumter County’s new high school. (Special Photo)
By Terry Lewis
AMERICUS — The Sumter County Development Authority joined the Sumter County Board of Education recently to host a joint land closing ceremony for the site of the new Americus Sumter High School. With recent approval for construction using E-SPLOST funds, the Sumter County School Board will move forward with constructing a new state-of-the-art facility with an eye cast toward the future.
Located along South Georgia Tech Parkway, and across the road from South Georgia Technical College, officials say the new facility will provide easy access for students completing courses through dual enrollment programs such as Move on When Ready and could lead to a college and career academy.
According to Sumter County School Superintendent Terrence Choates, the county purchased the 440-acre site for $1.6 million and will devote between $47 and $48 million to constructing the new high school.
Sumter County Development Authority Chairman Paul Hall noted the significance school and city officials’ initial action signifies.
“We all know a strong work force is the backbone of any community. The work force, or more importantly the individual people, are what make a community live and breathe,” Hall said. “The people work at jobs, raise families, volunteer in the community, worship together and lead together. Creating a space that provides all services and resources necessary to equip future generations of students to be the work force and leaders is the greatest, most important task, of any community. But it is not only a task, it is a responsibility to be taken very seriously.”
The new building will be considerably larger than the existing high school, and the proximity to South Georgia Tech sets up nicely for a potential college and career academy.
“It will be larger because we are building it for the future, and we needed some room to grow,” Choates said. “We plan on putting a portion of a college and career academy right in front of South Georgia Tech. It’s just going to take some coordination to make it happen. We are emphasizing the dual enrollment portion now and are in the process of trying to get a $3 million grant to build a college and career academy.
“It’s kinda like two separate things right now.”
According to Sumter County Board of Education Chairman Michael Busman, students from Americus Sumter High School who are rising sophomores and will be the first graduating class from the new facility in 2020.
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