New exit at Model schools complex planned

♦ Also, an auctioneer is chosen for the Mchenry property.

The Floyd County school board will be reviewing construction bids for the new Model High School exit in the next few days, as they work to alleviate some of the traffic in the growing district.

The school system is planning to construct an additional exit from the campus onto Mango Road — to ease the traffic flow on Calhoun and Barron roads. Buses often struggle leaving the parking lots of the schools during the late afternoon as well.

“We’ll receive those bids on June 24 and evaluate them,” Facilities Manager Jack Gardner said. “They’ll have to approve the bid during the July meeting and notify the contractor shortly after.”

He estimates that it should take about six months to complete, but since it’ll be toward the back of the school, construction shouldn’t affect the students during the school year.

During their Monday meeting, board members also approved a contract with J.L. Todd Auction Company to oversee the Mchenry school building auction.

Superintendent Glenn White said they should be auctioning off the building sometime in August or September.

Before then, they need to move all of the furniture and equipment into the new Pepperell Middle School building in July.

“The rain is causing some delays on the final grading there, but we’ll be fine and should be ready for move in,” Gardner said.

Board members also approved the purchase of 650 Chromebooks for all four high schools. The Chromebooks will be used only in the schools, due to many getting damaged at home, according to White.

The $184,613 purchase should be in before the school year starts in August.

The board also voted to pull a request for capital outlay funding for several schools: Garden Lakes Elementary, Alto Park Elementary, Armuchee Middle and Johnson Elementary.

Board Chair Tony Daniel said they made the decision to delay the maintenance projects, which included roof and HVAC repairs, citing budget shortfalls.

“We decided to put all that off for a year so we could get a good plan for next year,” Daniel said. “We weren’t sure if we could do all that work this year.”

White has previously stated that enrollment in the school system has been on the decline, save for the Model district, for the past few years.

Board members have floated around the idea of closing Alto Park and Garden Lakes and moving the kids into a planned elementary school in the Coosa area but have not firmed up plans.