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THOMASVILLE — The addition of 26 classrooms at three Thomasville City Schools campuses will result in the closing of another.

After approving a resolution authorizing the sell of bonds, the Thomasville City School Board on Tuesday approved a construction plan for four classrooms at Scott, 10 at Harper and 12 at Jerger elementary schools. After construction is completed, Balfour School pre-kindergarten students will be relocated to those campuses.

“This is only a change for pre-kindergarten students,” said Dusty Kornegay, Thomasville City Schools director of Administrative Services. “It would not take effect until the fall of 2008.” At that point, when a student is enrolled into a pre-K class within one of the schools, the student will be able to complete his or her elementary level classes in that school.

Construction at the three campuses is expected to occur simultaneously and should be completed before the 2008-09 school year begins. The addition of these classrooms will be paid for through SPLOST funds; the one-cent tax was approved by voters March 20. Tentative cost is estimated at $5-6 million. The cost of acquiring more land at Jerger is part of that estimate.

“The board voted to purchase property near Jerger — approximately one-and-a-half acres — Tuesday night,” Kornegay said. Other campuses are large enough to accommodate the additional classrooms.

Balfour, located at 201 Chatham Drive, was constructed in the 1940s, Kornegay explained. After consulting with two architects and the Georgia Department of Education, school board officials decided the costs associated with a major renovation of Balfour far outweighed the value of the building. However, Kornegay said, the original plan was for extensive renovation at the campus.

Further research revealed that approximately two-thirds of pre-K programs in the state were attached to elementary schools. According to Kornegay, the state does not offer any capital assistance for pre-kindergarten programs — other than funding salaries. Having pre-K classes attached to the elementary schools those students will eventually attend should be a more cost-effective plan.

“The system will save significantly on operating costs while increasing the resources that students have available to them such as the use of a library, media center and gym and the increased access to the services of specialists such as school nurses and counselors,” Kornegay said. “Each school will have its own entrance and drop-off area for pre-K students, providing the sense of separateness and security that parents want for their little ones while allowing students the opportunity for exposure to all of the activities and resources of the elementary school.”

After construction is completed and the pre-K program is moved, Kornegay said, “The board will make a decision about the disposal or maintenance of the property. At the moment the board has not made a decision.”

The construction plan has been submitted to the Georgia Department of Education for approval.



Other plans

n City school board officials also discussed changes to the Thomasville High School vocational program at their Tuesday meeting.

The development of PATHS: Professional Academy of Thomasville High School is part of Superintendent Sabrina Boykins-Everett’s Project FUTURE — “a comprehensive package of initiatives.”

PATHS will be implemented when the new school year begins and will offer more internships and apprenticeships under the leadership of coordinator Kevin Collins. An articulation agreement with Southwest Georgia Technical College will help the vocational program grow.

“Among the new programs will be an information technology program which will offer computer repair and networking classes along with Web-design and computer application courses,” said Boykins-Everett.

Health occupations courses would also be expanded to fill more needs. Currently, SWGTC and THS offer a certified nurses assistant program, but the retooled plan will offer more courses and more courses on campus.

n Another part of Boykins-Everett’s Project FUTURE is the implementation of a drivers education course for all freshmen entering THS in 2007. They will have a drivers education course as part of their regular high school experience before they graduate.

Kornegay said a fairly new law, Joshua’s Law, calls for teenagers to take a driving course or wait an additional year to receive their drivers license. Offering the class to all students allows the school system to provide it for no cost to students. Using SPLOST funds, the system will purchase a drivers education simulator and a computer-based curriculum program for $150,000.

n Adding the course for drivers education will not take away from students’ electives opportunities because the high school will be on a modified block schedule come 2007-2008.

MacIntyre Park Middle School, Scholars Academy and THS will be on the modified block schedule piloted by Scholars Academy this academic term.

“It will be very feasible to fit drivers education into the high school curriculum without it taking away from their high school experience,” Kornegay said. Students will have the opportunity to take seven courses in a year instead of the current six.

Modified block scheduling offers another benefit — for taxpayers. There will be some realignment within educators at the middle school to accommodate the modified schedule, Kornegay explained. Fewer teachers will be needed there, so some are being relocated to other schools. Other positions will be eliminated through attrition.

“It should result in a reduction in personnel costs,” Kornegay said.