When spectators and athletes fill Southeast Whitfield High School’s football stadium in the coming weeks, they’ll likely see some improvements because of several summer construction projects.
Whitfield County Schools’ Chief Operations Officer Mark Gibson said at a school board meeting this week that football fields at Southeast, Coahulla Creek High School and Northwest Whitfield High School will be “ready to play on” this fall.
Also in time for Southeast football games will be a newly-renovated concessions stand and ticket booth, which included remodeling work to the roof and new heating, ventilation and air conditioning units, among other things, Gibson said.
Southeast’s project was approved during the board’s March meeting with a contract price from Ringgold-based Tyson & Associates Construction Co. of $9.788 million.
The project will also include a “new field house for football, soccer and any other spring sports,” said Gibson.
It will include a new changing area for visiting teams and renovations to the public restrooms adjacent to the field.
“The ticket booth, concession stand and restroom facilities will be operational no problem this fall,” Gibson said. “They will be all but brand new buildings, very nice and clean. The football field house will be in phases, which will be complete by this time next year.”
Gibson said several projects at Coahulla Creek High School will be completed by next year, including a new field house adjacent to the football stadium’s concessions stand.
“That will be for soccer, tennis, track and some other teams that don’t currently have a facility of their own,” said Gibson. “Coahulla Creek’s tennis courts will also be heavily refurbished.”
A pair of middle school football fields also received some major improvements, said Gibson.
Gibson said the fields at Eastbrook and Westside will be “fully operational” in time for practice and games after work began in early June to address drainage issues.
“Both fields are notorious for leakage and no drainage, so it would be just mush when they’re playing football, on the sidelines or in the end zones,” he said.
Board members approved a $346,141.79 contract with Tri Scapes LLC for the renovations on June 3.
Gibson said the visitors sideline and the northeast portion of the field had problems with standing water, which made portions of the field unavailable.
Gibson also provided an update on the new parent drive project at Eastside Elementary School, which will see a complete overhaul of the current student drop-off and pick-up area outside of the school entrance at 102 Hill Road.
Approved in May, the project is expected to help with traffic on Airport Road and Hill Road. The current parent drive causes vehicles to line up on Airport Road during busy hours of the day due to limited room in front of the school’s entrance.
The system will be able to reconfigure the drive by using an “old roadbed on Hill Road” Gibson said was donated by Whitfield County.
“(It will be) an extended loop where we can have cars line up in front of the school as opposed to the public roadway of Hill Road and Airport Road,” he said, meaning cars should no longer block the major roadways during weekday mornings and afternoons.
Gibson said it will take “a lot of work” to complete the new parent drive, which will be completed in phases and will not affect student drop-offs and pick-ups during school hours.
“It won’t be completed at the beginning of this school year,” Gibson said. “We’re thinking it may be around late fall or early winter. I would expect a reasonable amount of time would be somewhere around Christmas break or afterwards. By that time, you’re going to see something that’s really nice and we can get those cars off Hill Road and off Airport Road. It’s a tremendous safety project. It’s going to be really nice.”
Gibson said each project that has not been completed will not interfere with school hours as the 2024-25 year begins.
“We’ve had a pretty active summer and it will continue on into the fall,” he said. “But it is important to make clear that all of the projects or portions of projects will not affect instructional time or instructional spaces. As of right now, everything is on schedule.”