The Limestone County Board of Education approved its annual 5-year capital plan last week, which included roofing projects, a new field house and a new elementary school.

The plan was brought up during an Aug. 6 work session, at which point Superintendent Tom Sisk went over the list with board members and asked for guidance on what to add or delete. Projects for 2020 include roofing projects at various schools, portable classroom renovations and awning replacement at Elkmont High School. The total estimated cost of the projects is $1.25 million.

The 2021 portion of the plan includes replacing air-conditioning units at Tanner High School, $1 million in renovations to Tanner Elementary School and $1.5 million in renovations to West Limestone High School. Sisk said the estimated cost for West was based on the costs of renovating other high schools.

“It’s consistent with what we had done at the other schools,” Sisk said. “This is renovating the bathrooms, updating the halls and all the other supports we’ve done.”

Limestone County Schools Director of Maintenance Steve Wallace said West, built in the 1980s, is among the newest high schools in the system and is the last school to be renovated. Renovations would include updating the bathrooms to increase accessibility.

For 2022, Ardmore and East Limestone high schools are slated for new bleachers in the middle school gymnasiums at an estimated cost of $75,000 each. Various schools would have roofing projects and Elkmont High would receive new air-conditioning units, at a combined estimated cost of $445,000.

The year 2023 could see $200,000 in asphalt seal and re-striping at various schools, with Tanner receiving another $100,000 in paving projects. In 2024, a new $20 million elementary school for Elkmont is listed “as a placeholder” to keep it from falling off the list. The elementary school was previously listed on a capital plan approved in 2016 as a project for 2019. It was moved to 2022 for the plan approved in 2017, then 2023 for the plan approved in 2018. It is one of several projects that have been moved from year to year.

Sisk emphasized the plan, while required each year by the Alabama State Department of Education, is not a guaranteed list of projects for Limestone County Schools. Instead, Sisk called it a wish list, saying it allows the state “to determine needs at the local level” but “does not commit this board to spending any public dollars.”

Security upgrades

During the Aug. 6 work session, Sisk asked board members for guidance in what to add or delete from the five-year plan. Among the suggestions was a request by board member Edward Winter for security upgrades.

“There’s schools all around … where I could drive in on any given day and walk in the back door,” Winter said. “I think that goes on a lot more around the county than we would like to admit. I hope something doesn’t have to happen before we start to address those things.”

Key passes and airlock entries were mentioned during the work session.

Director of Transportation and Athletics Rusty Bates said the district at one time looked into ways to lock certain buildings at designated times throughout the day, requiring key cards or special badges to get indoors.

“Anywhere where they have to leave one building and go to another building, we were going to lock the righthand door and put keycard access,” Bates said. “Give kids keycards — or, at least, the teachers keycards … so if you sent a kid to the office, you’d have to give them the keycard to get back into the building.”

Another option would be giving students special ID badges. In addition to unlocking campus buildings, it would open the door to one day allowing parents to put money on their child’s card for use at vending machines, copy machines at the library and more, much like a student ID on a college campus.

Board members and Sisk discussed an estimated cost to include on the capital plan. When the plan was approved Aug. 20, an entry for $250,000 in security upgrades had been added to the list of 2021 projects.