School official: SPLOST projects underway

ALBANY — Work on projects listed for the 2017-2022 SPLOST V are either under way or being planned, Dougherty County Schools facilities manager Robert Fowler Jr. told the Kiwanis Club of Dougherty County.

SPLOST V was initially projected to collect $100 million in revenues, Fowler said, but he noted, “We won’t collect anywhere near that amount,” probably around $75 million. A $35 million bond issue was approved so work could begin without having to wait for collections to aggregate for funding.

Four areas of improvement were listed under SPLOST V. They are priority renovations for instructional and operational improvement, technology, safety and security, and vehicle and equipment replacement (including buses, vans, sedans and instruction-related equipment).

The system currently includes 14,795 students; 2,300 employees, and 24 school facilities: 14 elementary, four middle schools, three high schools, one college and career academy, one alternative school and one pre-K center.

The Commodore Conyers College and Career Academy, Fowler said, “has been very successful.” It allows students to start on a career training path while still enrolled in high school, spending a half-day doing pathways work and a half-day in a typical classroom setting. In addition to Dougherty, the academy is also available to a number of surrounding counties. It is located in the renovated former Southside Middle School.

Among other things that Fowler noted were:

— The former Albany High School building will retain that name even as it is converted into an office complex for the system. Offices currently housed in the Walter Judge/Lincoln building on Corn Avenue will move there. It will have a cafeteria for the staffers who work there so they won’t have to leave for lunch, and the new band room that had been constructed will be turned into a museum for the school system, housing trophies and awards collected and saved throughout the years from different schools. The auditorium will still be available for school and community use.

— Monroe High School will continue undergoing almost a complete rebuild. When finished, Fowler said, “The auditorium will be the only thing left of the original high school.”

— The former Magnolia Elementary School will become the Magnolia Early Childhood Education Center, housing the system’s Pre-K program. Other facility priority renovations include a new GNETS (Georgia Network for Education and Therapeutic Support, for students with disabilities) facility at Sherwood Elementary, renovation of high school baseball fields, and installation of artificial turf for field and track.

— New middle school baseball fields are being built in order to bring middle school baseball back to the system.

Now, Fowler said, “Kids play Dixie League or Pony ball and then have to go to travel ball before coming back to high school. We’re trying to build up the baseball program so they can go from middle school straight to high school.”

In response to an audience question, Fowler said the old Broad Avenue Elementary School building is no longer owned by the school system. He said it was sold several years ago to an individual who he believed had plans to convert it to residential housing but that failed to come to fruition. It changed hands again, he thought, but did not know its current status.