Bartow schools to upgrade athletic facilities, AC units with SPLOST funds
The Bartow and Cartersville school systems will welcome back high school students next month with millions of dollars’ worth of new and upgraded athletic facilities.
Some county students also will see $4 million worth of work to upgrade major interior building systems at three elementary schools and the system’s Central Registration building.
Cartersville High School students and athletes in August should see a new athletic building which will provide everything from weight training to new locker rooms, system officials said.
The new building is nearing completion behind the north end zone of Weinman Stadium. It will replace a facility that is more than 35 years old, officials said.
Cartersville City Schools spent $4.75 million from Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds on the 22,800-square-foot building. It will include locker rooms, equipment storage, offices and weight training area.
All Cartersville High athletic programs will have use of the facility, with weight training classes held during the school day, officials said.
Bremen-based R.K. Redding Construction is the general contractor.
The Bartow County School System is installing artificial turf on the football fields at Adairsville, Cass and Woodland high schools.
The county school board voted to approve using $3.1 million in SPLOST funds to install the turf on the athletic fields at the three schools’ stadiums.
The money also will be used to replace the running tracks around the Adairsville and Cass athletic fields.
Acworth-based Advanced Sports is doing the work, which is planned for completion by Aug. 1 to have the turf in place for the start of the 2019 football season.
The turf allows multiple sports to be played on the fields or during extended periods of rainy weather when maintenance of grass fields can prove difficult, district officials said.
Another major Bartow schools project is the replacement of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and lighting at three schools.
Carrollton-based J&R Construction Co. is leading the installation work at Allatoona, Kingston and Taylorsville elementary schools.
The work totals almost $3.5 million from local SPLOST and state capital outlay reimbursement funds, according to county school board documents.
It will include installation of new HVAC systems and energy-efficient lighting at the three schools.
Also, the school system is using more than $560,000 in SPLOST funds to renovate its Central Registration building on Cassville Road.
Cartersville-based McWhorter Goss General Contractors was awarded the contract for the work, which will renovate the building adjacent to the school system’s central office. It formerly served as Star’s Pre-k Center.