CCA to host state officials for ribbon cutting Monday

State and local officials will be gathering this coming Monday to officially open t he Polk County College and Career Academy’s facility at Cedartown High School, even as students have already been using the new classroom spaces since the start of the school year.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Technical College System of Georgia Commis- sioner Gretchen Corben and many more local officials will be gathering on Monday, Aug. 28 for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the College and Career Academy’s campus at 1 p.m.

Invitations have gone out to several people in the community for the ceremony, which will celebrate the new building, which houses a variety of programs for students at Cedartown High School.

Construction wrapped up on the new building early last summer, and students got to get their f i rst chance t o l ook around on Aug. 7 for an student and parent open house.

The multimillion dollar facility wraps up the first phase of plans for expanding and renovating Cedartown High School, which if funded in the future include upgrades to the cafeteria, library, administration offices and new classrooms.

Those plans have been put on hold for the time being after a proposed 2017 Special Purpose, Local Option Sales Tax was shelved by the Board of Education for the time being.

The new College and Career Academy campus a t Cedartown High School features 12 classrooms, and uses an additional four in the old high school to accommodate the 26 college courses and 33 career paths offered to students in the program.

"We're already bigger than this building, which is a good problem," said College and Career Academy CEO Katie Thomas during the latest Polk County Chamber of Commerce meeting, which was hosted in the new building's office conference room on Aug. 16.

She added that "we're excited about the opportunities we have in this building," she said.

A few minor cosmetic issues are still being fixed up before they officially call the new facility complete and hold the Aug. 28 ribbon cutting.

"Our hopes are to have it all complete before then," she said.

The facility includes specialized classrooms for students to take classes in nursing, automotive and mechanical repairs, construction, welding and more.