Coffee County Schools to replace roofs at NBHS and central office

At the March 25 Coffee County Schools Board of Education meeting the board approved permission to seek bids for roof replacement at New Brockton High School and at the central office in Elba.

At a work session before the meeting, Coffee County Schools Superintendent Kevin Killingsworth said that the school system has replaced 12 roofs at various buildings in the school system and now it was time to get to the central office and New Brockton High. Killingsworth said the auditorium at NBHS had leaks due to the roof and that the membrane on the central office’s roof had not been replaced since the building’s construction in the 90s.

“We do it by need and here the central office has needed it for awhile but we put it off to get to the schools first,” Killingsworth said. “Now, we’re in a situation where it really needs to be replaced. This building was built in 1992 I believe and to my knowledge that membrane has not ever been changed.”

Killingsworth said that the money for the roof replacements would come from a grant the school has received over the last number of years and would not come from its general fund or the recent capital projects bond the school system received. There will also be alternate options for the bid to replace the roofs on two buildings at Zion Chapel High School if the bid for the project comes in under budget.

Also, the board approved permission to seek bids for site improvements at Zion Chapel High School. The improvements will include clearing land that the school system bought a number of years ago for future improvements. That will allow the real problem to be addressed.

“At the baseball field there is a bank on the right field line that’s 30 feet high at its highest point,” Killingsworth said. “With all the rain we’ve had over the last few years it’s been sloping off and trees have been falling off and dirt falling off into the ditch that backs up and makes the ground soft in the baseball field.”

The bid for improvements would also include clearing the trees on the bank over the baseball field and tapering off the bank, so as to reduce the erosion and drainage issues. Killingsworth said that the cleared land could be used in the future for overflow parking at Zion Chapel High or the addition of new buildings if needed.

Killingsworth also discussed the impending end to the state’s mask mandate and whether the school system will continue to require masks be worn on campus.

“I would like nothing more than to get rid of these things we’ve had to wear on our faces for the last year but I’m hesitant to do that because who knows where we’re going to be in two weeks,” Killingsworth said. “If we can safely not wear masks then that’s what we’ll do, we’ll leave it optional. If we have an uptick of cases after we get back from Spring Break then we will have to seriously consider continuing to wear the masks.”

Killingsworth pointed out that the school system has had no positive cases of COVID-19 in the past two weeks – and only 10 students in quarantine – and would like to keep things trending in that direction, but a decision about the masks wouldn’t be made until after students return from Spring Break.

In other business, the board also approved the purchase of a new bus. The board also agreed to enter into legal services due to “threatened, pending or proposed litigation” against the school system. The matter was discussed in an executive session that the media nor public is privy to.

The next school board meeting will be held April 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the central office in Elba.

The follow personnel decisions were approved, as well.

Resignations:

Matthew Sanders, teacher, New Brockton High School;

Jeremy Tice, teacher, Zion Chapel High School;

Lindsey Stinson, Pre-K aide, Zion Chapel Elementary School;

Employment:

Beverly Simms, teacher, New Brockton Elementary School;

Jennifer Koehler, teacher, New Brockton Elementary School;

Callie Melton, teacher, New Brockton Elementary School; and

Leave:

Scott Crosby, teacher, Kinston School.