Work continues on the project to build a new home for iAcademy at Athens Elementary. The new building will be located on Madison Street between First and Second Avenue, an area that housed a prior iteration of AES.

Athens City Board of Education approved the prequalified companies and subcontractors list for bidding at its June 14 meeting. Superintendent Beth Patton said she expects the board to announce low bidders at its next meeting, tentatively set for July 22.

The Athens City Council approved Athens City Schools accepting a $18.86 million bond for the project at its May 10 meeting.

Patton said the new building will only be one story, it will take up a larger area and be able to hold approximately 200 more students than the previous iteration.

“This building will be about 66,000 square feet,” Patton said. “It will house approximately 600 students, where the old one could hold approximately 400. Originally, the design was comparable to the old school with two stories, but after getting input from teachers and staff, we decided that was not conducive to an elementary school. We went back to the drawing board, probably in February 2020, and made it one story, because it’s better for elementary students to not have to worry about stairs and elevators.”

Another new feature will be the amount of space that iAcademy will have to highlight its theme, computer science. Patton said the new campus will have plenty of room for the school’s WOW! innovation lab.

“That is something we think is exciting,” she said. “It will be a maker’s space — a really top-notch space for that. Everything in it will be up-to-date.”

Patton said next month’s board meeting was pushed back a bit due to the Fourth of July holiday. She said bids are due by July 15, so the low bidders should be announced at that month’s meeting.

The new AES project is expected to take about a year and a half to complete.

“We are taking our time on it, because the main thing is we get it right,” she said. “We are fortunate to have the Clinton Street campus in the interim.”

Patton said ACS plans to document progress on the new AES building once ground is broken on the project. She said there will likely be a space on the system’s website where interested parties can find regular updates on the new campus.

Athens Renaissance School

Athens Renaissance School moved out of its location on The Square earlier this month. Patton said the ARS high school students will be temporarily housed on the north side of the old rec center, while the south side is to be used for athletics.

She said the next project after the new AES building is completed will be finding a new home for the ARS high schoolers.

“It will be a smaller project,” Patton said. “We have a plan drawn to add on to the old library building that houses the Athens Renaissance elementary students. We could add a wing to it for the ARS middle school and high school students.”