Crisp County breaks ground on new middle school

CORDELE, Ga. — The future is looking bright for students in Crisp County with a brand new middle school set to

open in August 2020.

A ground breaking ceremony was held Friday at the site of the facility.

“The construction of this new facility demonstrates our dedication to our students and our community in order to provide the best possible educational environments that we can,” said Superintendent Cindy Hughes.

The new middle school is part of the board’s continued effort to modernize the county school system with not just new buildings but new technology as well.

“This will make our system even better and help our children get the education they deserve,” said Board of Education Chairman Lonnie Nelms. “As part of the community we should all be proud of this building being ready to be put up for us.”

Ten years ago the school board purchased 265 acres of land off Old Hatley Road. They began construction of the first of three schools to be located on the grounds. The Crisp County Primary School was opened in 2012. Now, just seven years later they are moving forward with the new middle school. In time Crisp County Elementary School will also be located on the property.

County Commissioner Wallace Mathis said the new schools are an example of county SPLOST dollars at work.

“Without the SPLOST this would not be possible.”

Commissioner Mathis added a heartfelt congratulations to the school system, board and staff on behalf of the county commission.

Greg Smith of Buckley and Associates, the architect for both the Crisp County Primary School and the new middle school said the facility will sit on about 80 acres. That will include development of baseball and softball field, six tennis courts, as well as concessions and press box. Some of that will be developed later.

“The building will be fully enclosed. It will be one campus and have a secure vestibule,” said Smith. “There will be three identical wings, with computer lab on each wing. A fourth exploratory wing will include art, band, choral and AG lab.”

Lyndy Jones, President of JCI Contractors, said they are most proud of the Crisp County Primary School and are pleased to be part of the construction of the new middle school.

“We are excited to be here,” he said. “It’s an honor for us to be building it.”

Jones said the school will be about 160,000 square feet. There will be about 3,400 cubic yards of concrete in the footings and the slab, 350,000 blocks and 700,000 bricks.

“It’s a big project,” he said. “There is gonna be a lot of work done on this hill in the next year.”

Jones said the weather had not been really good to them since they began ground work in November but that seems to be breaking. He said next week they plan to pour the first footings and end of April, early May some still will be going up and block going vertical.

“We are gonna turn this school over to the school system in June of 2020,” added Jones.

Superintendent Hughes, along with Assistant Superintendent Brandon Williams, retiring Superintendent Dr. David Mims joined with board members, Smith, Jones and county leaders officially broke ground.