Rome to extend school days to make up time
The BOE announces the change for at least the first two weeks of April.
Instead of making a calendar change in response to the loss of instruction time from inclement weather school closings, Rome City Schools will extend school days for at least the first two weeks in April.
The decision was announced during Tuesday’s Rome Board of Education meeting. A decision on how much longer school days will be for April 2 through April 13 will not be made until the winter season has come to a close, Superintendent Lou Byars said.
The extended days will follow the system’s spring break the last week of March. Byars said this will provide more time for students to have a “refresher” on material before state testing takes place.
The system has closed school four times this year for either winter weather or the football state championship game.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Byars addressed how the system is moving forward with projects funded by the 1-cent education local option sales tax.
Bids for installing air conditioners at each of the elementary school gyms are currently being accepted. Byars said the hope is to have the installation complete by the start of next school year. This project will be funded by the current ELOST.
Collections for the current ELOST had a good month in December, with the system bringing in $89,971 more than the monthly average of $434,000. The boost in collections cut the total deficit between what the system has taken in — $19,300,590 — and what it expected by December 2017 — $19,530,000 — down to $229,410. The deficit had been $301,356 through August 2017.
For projects to be funded by the ELOST extension approved by voters this fall, the construction of a new Main Elementary is set to get underway
following a groundbreaking ceremony Friday.
Also, property is being prepared at Rome High for the installation of a new practice football field, since the current one is the site for a planned multipurpose facility and college and career academy. The system will move forward with building the new facility once the new field is built.
The board also approved an energy savings project with Georgia Power. West End and West Central elementary schools will be completely outfitted with new LED light fixtures, to cut down on energy bills.
The system doesn’t have to commit any upfront capital for the project, which is estimated to result in 50 percent to 80 percent in energy savings. Georgia Power will have a written guarantee that annual savings will be at least $36,268. These energy savings will in turn be used to pay for the project over a 10-year period.
The total cost of the project is $301,379, but a $39,878 rebate would knock that down to $261,501.