Residents provide ideas for new school in Centertown

By WILL STEWART Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Studying a map of Centertown, Joyce Walkup, left, Angela Nichols, center, and Kim Woodlee ponder the best location for a new school in the community at a public meeting Thursday night.

If parents, community residents and teachers have their way, a new Centertown Elementary School will be a single-story structure with core facilities for 600 students and will be located just east of the present school, between Highway 70S and the four-lane scheduled some time in the near future.

These ideas were the result of a public meeting held to gather feedback on a number of different aspects pertaining to any new school to be built in the community. The meeting was held Thursday night in the gymnasium of the current Centertown School.

Mike Holland, who represents the Centertown area on the school board, moderated the forum, which was held by the school board’s Building, Grounds and Insurance Committee in accordance with a county commission motion requiring the board to solicit public input for the site and design of a new Centertown campus and school building.

“I think it was a very productive meeting,” said Holland. “We met the requirement of the commission and got some good community input.”

In August, the commission approved a motion to support the replacement of the aging school and to appropriate money for such a project by no later than Aug. 31, 2005.

In doing so, however, the commission put a number of responsibilities upon the school board before any funding will be approved.

These include gathering the public’s input, conducting site searches and geotechnical testing, hiring an architect and coming up with estimated costs of such a project.

The board is scheduled to submit to the commission by Nov. 15 a written report detailing its initial findings and plans. A more detailed report, including plans for the disposition of the current school and property, is due to the commission by April 15.

To further facilitate these mandates, the board is scheduled to meet in special session on Thursday night to choose an architectural firm, which will then begin designing specific plans.