Updated 12/11/19

The Giles County Board of Education approved a two-phase school renovation proposal that will be sent to the county commission’s schools committee during a recent meeting.

Phase one includes the complete renovation of Giles County High School, HVAC replacement and the removal of overhead pipes at Bridgeforth, the replacement of HVAC at Richland School and district-wide HVAC system controls to help with additional energy savings. The projected cost of phase one is $10.4 million with approximately $3.15 million in energy savings and $500,000 in maintenance savings.

Phase two involves renovations ESG had proposed for all other Giles County schools at a projected cost of $4.3 million.

After a long discussion the board voted 5-1, with one member absent, to send the two-phase schools renovation proposal to the schools committee

County Commissioner Stoney Jackson, chairman of the commission’s schools committee, told school board members there are a lot of questions that need to be answered about what the county is getting for the money.

Board Member Katie Journey told other members that they gave Acting Director Vickie Beard and County Executive Melissa Greene the powers to sit down and put together their needs and wants. Now it’s up to the commission and the schools committee to determine if it is feasible within our county dollars, or we stop it all and start over again.

Jim Stewart, Knox Vanderpool, Journey and board members Joe Parker and Deborah Poole-Tillman voted to send the two-phase proposal to the commission’s schools committee. Richie Brewer voted no and school board member Tommy Pope was absent.

Brewer said he is not willing to vote for a split project, adding that he wants to see the complete project proposed by ESG to be implemented at all of Giles County’s schools, which comes at a projected cost of $16.1 million.