GROWING UP: New AES tops city schools’ capital plan

Published 7:00 am Thursday, September 17, 2020

The Athens City Board of Education met twice over the past two weeks to discuss and approve the budget for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year.

One of the main items discussed during those meetings was the five-year capital plan that contains all major construction and renovations for Athens City Schools property.

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The top item on the plan is the new building for iAcademy at Athens Elementary. According to the plan, new growth has necessitated construction of a new Athens Elementary campus.

During the budget presentation, Serena Owsley, chief financial officer for ACS, said demolition of the old Athens Elementary building is complete and site work on the new construction is set to begin Sept. 24.

Acting Superintendent Beth Patton and Board President Russell Johnson said work on the project has been pushed back by the COVID-19 pandemic. No specific completion date has been set at this time.

“There are so many of those variables that are out of our control,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to push forward on it.”

Construction of the new building is estimated to cost $16 million and will be funded locally. Johnson said the board still has to travel to New York to get the bond money for the project, which is another facet of the project affected by coronavirus.

“The last thing I heard up in New York, when we go to get the bond money, you still have a thing where if you go you have to quarantine for 14 days,” Johnson said.

Patton said the board is ready to get the project back underway.

“We’re not as close as we want to be on that, but we’re headed in the right direction,” she said.

Athens Renaissance

Construction for Athens Renaissance School has been listed on the capital plan for 2021 as well. While Johnson and Patton said it is unknown at this time if that will take the form of a brand new building or an expansion to the existing one, one thing that is certain is new growth has once again necessitated the project.

“We have several possibilities, but we are not to the point yet where we want to say for sure,” Patton said. “We do have several possibilities we have been talking about for a while in anticipation of this growth. We’ve got to get together and get that plan in place, because it’s time.”

Johnson said the board has a sketch drawing of what a new Athens Renaissance building might look like, with the site near HEART Academy at Julian Newman Elementary. Construction is estimated to cost $5.4 million.

“We may go that route,” he said. “We are going to meet soon and do a big strategic plan on what we need. We will get some projections on growth and look to see if we can reconfigure some schools.”

Fifth elementary school

Athens is one of the fastest-growing cities in the state of Alabama. Over the past 10 years, the number of residents has gone up around 25%. More rooftops are expected to be built in the city over the coming years to house even more growth, and more residents means more students.

In order to accommodate that expected population growth, Johnson said he feels it is “inevitable” that ACS build a fifth elementary school on the eastern side of the city, “probably sooner rather than later.”

“That’s where the growth is coming,” he said. “Or, we may have to expand the current size of an existing school.”

Construction of a new elementary school has been listed on the capital plan for 2024 at an estimated cost of $17 million.

New Athens Intermediate

The final major school project on the capital plan is a new Athens Intermediate School, meant to handle increased enrollment.

Much like Athens Renaissance, this project still has several unknowns. It is listed for 2025 at an estimated cost of $20 million.

While all of these major building projects are meant to accommodate an increase in student population, Patton said the school system still has “quite a bit” of space already.

“We are very confident we can get through quite a while with the growth we anticipate,” she said. “But we have to have a plan in place, because we are looking at huge growth for the future. It may not be perfect, but we have some space available while we are growing.”