Minutes

Construction Advisory Committee Meeting

May 7, 2007

Committee members and some Board Members met at Bennett’s Mill Middle School to visit the construction site. Principal, Rae Presley-King, and Dr. John DeCotis, Superintendent, welcomed the members to the meeting. Dr. DeCotis and Mr. Lee Davis, Comptroller, thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.

Mr. Klaus Darnall, Construction Manager, and Mrs. Presley-King showed everyone around the school. The school will have approximately 157,000 square feet, and the substantial completion date is scheduled for May 18, or May 25, 2007. The auxiliary power generator should be shipped today, and will be ready to install by the end of the week. We are working with BellSouth on the installation of the phone lines, and this should be completed soon.

The school’s mascot will be a “Bronco” and the school colors are blue, gold and white. This color scheme was carried out throughout the building. The Committee members saw two computer labs (one for business education, and the other for keyboarding classes.) Next the Committee saw the health portion of the building: the gym, health classroom, weight room, and locker rooms, complete with non-skid epoxy floors. The Committee was impressed. The gym is beautifully finished with maple wood flooring.

The Media Center was visited next. Desks were in place, and computers are expected to arrive in July. In addition, a writing lab classroom is adjacent to the Media Center. The center, as well as all other classrooms, and the cafeteria open area, will be fitted with projectors that can cast information from a computer onto a wall screen. This is particularly helpful for the class if looking up information on the “Internet” and TV broadcasts. The center is bright with skylights, and the cabinetry is beautiful.

The cafeteria is spacious, and the lunchroom is very nice. In the cafeteria area, there is a stage, and Mrs. Presley-King mentioned that there will be two screens on the walls, to accommodate assemblies, and shows where the projectors will be used. In addition, there will be 32 cameras in the hall areas, and the school will have onsite monitoring.

The Committee next visited one of the classroom halls, and the art and music rooms, all of which were very nice. Cabinetry in the science classes and other classrooms was finished. The school is very bright; the music rooms are carpeted to absorb sound, and the art room has an auxiliary room with a kiln inside of it. When asked, Mrs. Presley-King said that the ultimate classroom size of the school is 1,200 students.

The meeting was adjourned. Dr. DeCotis thanked everyone for coming and stated that he hoped they enjoyed the meeting. The Committee seemed pleased with the design and structure of the new school.