Walker school projects advance

Five of Walker County’s seven school improvement projects are complete or nearly so as the construction season wanes this year.

Chris Jones, director of administrative services for Walker schools, said construction on athletic facilities at LaFayette High and Rossville Middle schools is continuing, but other classroom additions and sports-related improvements are done or ready to be closed out.

“Projects at LaFayette High are still in progress,” he said. The softball hitting facility and the softball press box/concession stand are under roofs, but there’s some inside work still to be completed.

Classroom expansions at Rock Spring Elementary and Naomi Elementary schools are complete, “with the exception of a few punch-list items at Naomi,” Mr. Jones said. Work on a 10-classroom addition at Ridgeland High is also at the punch-list stage, he said.

A punch list details the final items the contractor must complete to satisfy a customer before payment is made.

Chattanooga Valley Middle School’s athletic field project is finished, while work continues on the field at Rossville Middle School, Mr. Jones said.

The new planetarium at the Science and Technology Center in Chickamauga is almost ready for its 40-foot diameter dome.

“The last outstanding project is the new school in the north end of the county, the new K-8 school,” Superintendent Melissa Mathis said.

The school system paid $1.2 million for 95 acres of land in Rock Spring for the school.

“That project will be the last in this construction cycle,” she said.

The improvements help school facilities keep pace with needs, she said. Most work began during the last four years, and the oldest project is an athletic field at Chattanooga Valley Middle.

Ms. Mathis said middle-school sports teams have been sharing high school facilities, while clustered portable buildings were replaced with the new classrooms at Ridgeland High.

New heating and air conditioning systems were needed to replace some that were decades old, she said.

Most of the projects were funded through education special purpose local option sales taxes, while others were paid for with state and local money, Ms. Mathis said.

Now with the end of this construction cycle, officials prepare to embark on another. School officials will start updating the county’s five-year plan after the holidays.

Spokeswoman Elaine Womack said that process helps officials prioritize projects. Five-year facilities plans are completed about two years before the next ESPLOST construction cycle, she said.

Officials also consult with the state Department of Education, she said.

School officials try to make sure the community knows well ahead of time if a project appears to need ESPLOST funding, she said.