Contracts approved for gas, sewer lines at new school site
By REBECCA LEFTWICHrebecca@newnan.com
The Coweta County Board of Education moved along with the construction of its newest middle school Tuesday, voting to enter into intergovernmental agreements with the City of LaGrange – which owns the closest pipeline – for natural gas and Coweta County Water and Sewer to provide a sewer line to access the site.
Corinth Road Middle School is set to open in fall 2014.
“We were very fortunate to find any provider,” Associate Superintendent of Schools Jerry Davis said of the gas pipeline. “We don’t have any of our local providers near that site, but there was a line that went through (Kia Motors Manufacturing).”
“Is this a one-time expense?” asked board member Frank Farmer.
“Yes, that is correct,” Davis said.
Davis said the school system looked at the possibility of putting a drip system in for waste disposal, but the cost and loss of acreage at what is intended to be a possible multi-school site led school officials to pursue the sewage contract.
“Because of location and distances, the drip system would cost approximately $800,000 just for the middle school,” Davis said. “If we added a high school, it would be more than $1 million additional. Field lines would eat up 25 or 26 acres, and that could impact the construction of additional schools.”
“There is enough land on that site for future use,” board chairman Sue Brown said. “We want to make preparations now to benefit us in the long run.”
In other business, the board:
• Voted to adopt policy changes left open for public comment since the Coweta County Board of Education’s July meeting.
The board received “a very small number” of responses to the changes, which primarily were necessitated by state-level legislation and national policy changes.
School officials asked that any Open Records Requests regarding policy be submitted to Tanya Grieb, Records Retention Specialist, at 167 Werz Industrial Drive, Newnan, GA 30263 or to the Office of the Superintendent at 237 Jackson Street, Newnan, GA 30263.
• Adopted a tax millage rate of 18.59, which has not changed since the 2005.
• Approved an amendment to Central Educational Center’s charter. The amendment will provide for the use of the COMPASS exam as major indicator in evaluation of CEC’s success rate. In addition, the board approved Perkins Grant funding of $147,384, a large part of which will be used in career and technical programs at CEC and the county’s three base high schools.
• Accepted Southern A&E, LLC as the district’s primary and BRPH as its secondary architectural service providers.
• Approved a recommended change of dental provider for school employees, who will now be served by Delta Dental.
