Officials enthused about new school progress
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Pelham called the meeting as an effort to reintroduce a program that had been in place in the past where regular tours of county schools were scheduled and attended by the Education Committee, along with fellow commissioners and county officials. According to Education Committee chairman Bill Zechman, the committee hopes to schedule tours for all the county schools by the end of this school year.
Education Committee members actually got to attend a regularly scheduled meeting of the building contractors? representatives and project architect Derek Clemow of Upland Design Group, Inc., of Crossville. The group received a good report from Clemow, who reported the project had required no change orders to date and was on schedule and within budget. Clemow also said the construction contingency fund, which is set up to cover unexpected expenses, had a positive balance of over $32,000.
Zechman reported the group was impressed with the progress and the report from the meeting.
?I think the committee was very well pleased with the design and the quality of the construction of the project,? Zechman said. ?It looks like a very intelligent design and one that will serve us well for several decades into the future.?
Zechman said it is important to keep our schools up to date and equipped for the future.
?It?s important in several respects,? Zechman said. ?Number one, we need a safe, comfortable, spacious environment for learning and for teaching. Also, in terms of industrial development of our community, to have a modern, sophisticated school facility is just part of the assets we like to show off to industrial prospects.?
Zechman said the new Centertown School will be a prime example of that type of educational facility. According to Clemow, the project should make the July 2 completion date, and Centertown students should be in the new facility for the 2007-2008 school year.
According to Zechman, one of the reasons for the reinstatement of the school visits is to give officials a chance to communicate with school employees and address their concerns, something they did during the Centertown visit, which finished up with a meeting at the existing Centertown school.
?One of the things we did at Centertown that we want to continue is actually talk one-on-one with the teachers and other school personnel,? Zechman said. ?Our committee likes to have that kind of contact, where people feel free to talk about the issues. That?s important to us.?