Dr. Grant Swallows gave updates on construction projects in the school system Tuesday night.
Construction is ready to get underway at West Elementary while another major Warren County Schools project continues to take shape at Warren County High School.
Contractors are scheduled to begin demolition Friday as part of the West Elementary gym project, Director of Schools Grant Swallows told the Warren County School Board Tuesday night.
"We're excited about getting that going," Swallows said. "Demolition will start and then we're going to wait on primarily the installation of the bleachers."
The district has secured a storage building for items currently kept in the gym. One of the biggest immediate adjustments will be finding space for physical education classes while construction is underway.
"The biggest problem with that will be what are they going to do for PE during these weeks that this project takes," Swallows said. "Ms. (Michelle) Lewis has got a good plan together, so we're looking forward to that project coming together and hopefully moving quickly."
While the current project will provide improvements to the gym, board member Jarvis Johnson raised questions about what could come next at West.
Johnson asked whether there were plans for a concession area once the school begins hosting games in the renovated gym. Swallows said nothing has been finalized, though there should be enough room to operate concessions.
"I think the long-term scale, we would want something that would be permanent that you could lock up," Swallows said. "But right now, we'll have to wait and see how much room we've got once that's done."
Johnson also noted the project will not connect the gym to the main school building, meaning students will still have to go outside when moving between the two. He pointed out West is not the only county school where students or members of the public have to step outside to travel between buildings.
Swallows said that could become part of a larger conversation about the future of school facilities across the district.
"I think that's what this board needs to talk about moving forward," Swallows said. "We've got elementary schools that have gyms that have locker rooms. We've got some that don't have locker rooms. We've got some that have good concession stands. We have some that we don't."
Any additional work would have to be handled separately from the current West project, including making it to where the gym connected to the school to eliminate the need for students or teachers to go outside.
"We can't do it as part of this project because it would take an architect to design that," Swallows said.
Work is also progressing at Warren County High School, where crews were digging footers Tuesday for the ongoing cafeteria project.
"We're hoping that that's going to move along quickly," Swallows said. "It will be interesting to see how far we get before we get into these winter months, but they are digging footers and moving."
Another project will soon begin inside Charlie Dalton Gym.
Demolition of the current WCHS gym bleachers is scheduled to begin before the end of September, while the new bleachers and chairs are expected to arrive around Oct. 5. Installation can begin once they arrive, creating a tight turnaround between volleyball and basketball seasons.
"It's a little tenuous here between volleyball season and basketball season," Swallows said. "Obviously, we don't need a gym without bleachers, so hopefully we can get that taken care of."
The district is not currently anticipating delivery delays. Swallows said the work is expected to take approximately three weeks once it begins.
