By By Lisa Tindell – news editor
Parents of students who attend Brewton Middle School are anxiously awaiting word on when and where a new school will be built.
Lunchroom workers at Brewton Middle School feel like they are dying to hear the news.
As the Brewton City Board of Education awaits an appraisal on land it is negotiating to buy from the city, the lunchroom discomfort is emblematic of the need for a new school.
The board is considering buying a plot of land on U.S. 31 North and Old Castleberry Road, near a city water tower.
Negotiations on a cost for the property between the board and the City of Brewton are under way, but no timetable has been set for buying the land.
With no set time to expect a new school, lunchroom employees at the current school are facing a dilemma with the first day of school just under three weeks away.
Help may come only in the form of new fans in the area since officials are holding their funds to pay for a new facility.
Byrd, and two other lunchroom employees, said the air conditioning problems have been going on for three years.
Smith said the system currently in place was never meant to carry the full load of the lunchroom cooling needs.
The board agreed to look into the situation at the school's lunchroom and put in additional exhaust and blowing fans to accommodate workers and students in the opening few months of the new school year.
An outline for the five-year capital plan for the Brewton City School System was also addressed Monday by the board. The plans for a new middle school facility will have a large impact on just how many items in the plan can be completed, Smith said.
If the facility comes in at a higher bid than expected, fewer plans can be implemented.
Smith said the plan includes items that span at least a two-year period of the five-year plan.
The projects funded by the bond issue for fiscal year 2009 are the purchase of a school site and school construction, Smith said.
Other plans for the next two years include renovation of the old gymnasium and the locker rooms at the high school; replace the HVAC in the classroom addition at the elementary school, and replace the carpet in the classroom addition with floor tile.
More long-term plans (2011-2013) include projects of office renovation at the high school and land improvements for physical education and athletic fields; roofing on the maintenance area, playground improvements for BES, resurfacing of the tennis courts, and replacing carpet at TRM; replace the HVAC at TRM and renovate the lunchroom at TRM.
In other business, the board: