Athens City School Board updates on new school
Published 10:00 am Sunday, March 27, 2022
- A view of the construction at the new Athens Elementary School.
The Athens City School Board met Thursday night to discuss progress on the new Athens Elementary School and highlight the accomplishments and events of the school district.
Lee Edminson delivered an update regarding the construction of the new Athens Elementary School on Madison Street.
Approximately 50 percent of the concrete planks over the corridor are complete. The attic space Hollow Core for the HVAC units is 100 percent complete. The Hollow Core for the storm shelter will be- gin on Monday.
The trusses for the roof in sections A and B are at approximately 90 percent completion. Builders are awaiting further approval for section D, as it is the part of the roof above the storm shelter. If all supplies for the trusses are delivered by April 11, they anticipate completion by the end of the month.
Builders anticipate roofing in mid-April, pending the delivery of materials.
Electric and plumbing overhead in the building has begun.
Site work progress is still at approximately 20 percent.
Edminson also updated attendees regarding roof repairs at Athens Middle School.
The roof will have its final inspection on Monday and hasn’t experienced any leaks since being repaired.
The school board elected not to renew former Athens High School principal Rick Carter’s contract following him being found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
In 2020, Carter was part of a fraud investigation involving other school administrators, including former superintendent Trey Holladay.
He will face sentencing this summer.
This week, Athens Renaissance School participated in a Project-Based Learning Showcase.
“Our Athens Renaissance School K-12 students recently presented their ‘Thriving’ Project-Based Learning Showcase. PBL allows students to solve real-world problems while learning through student-led, inquiry-based experiences,” said Athens City Schools.
ARS students studied how the global pandemic influenced society in various areas. The students researched previous pandemics, collected data, com- pared medicines, explored the constitutionality of health and social mandates and then used these elements to create interactive exhibits.
These exhibits allowed students to showcase project-based learning and its impact on academia.
Kindergarten through fifth grade created a communication station, sensory board and path and a bathroom button. Middle grades presented the history of pandemics, medicine of pandemics and a Resilience Cafe exhibit. Ninth through twelfth grade created and presented a 60-minute newscast regarding COVID-19.
At the beginning of March, the Athens High School concert band earned “straight superior scores” with 137 out of 140 possible points during the state Musical Performance Assessment. Assessors evaluated the band on stage performance and in sight-reading.
They scored 104 out of 105 in stage performance and the highest score possible in sight-reading.
This assessment ensures that state curriculum standards for content and execution are being met by instructors and students. In January and February, Athens High School collected enough food to fill 3,000 bags to be sent home with food-insecure students.
This effort was part of the “Full Tummy Project.” Items were collected throughout January and February and bagged during the annual “pack-a-bag” event that all AHS students can participate in.
“We are #athensproud of all who contributed to make ‘Full Tummy Thursday’ a success and participated in kindness week. In a world where you can be anything, remember to be kind, as #kindness always matters!” said Athens City Schools in a statement.
The board will meet again in April.
