LaGRANGE – The Troup County Board of Education has chosen its architect to carry out renovations at two local schools.

On Thursday night, the board approved 2WR of Columbus to be the architect over the planned renovations of Rosemont Elementary School and Hollis Hand Elementary School.

2WR was the architect that worked on renovations for Ethel W. Kight Elementary School in 2015 and the construction of the Callaway High School Athletics Multipurpose Facility in 2014. The firm has done work for a number of public and private groups, and the school board was unanimous in its approval of the firm.

The renovations at Rosemont would give the school additional classrooms as well as improvements to the gym, cafeteria and office space. The renovations would also address water and sewage issues at the school. The renovation at Hollis Hand would create a new hallway with five classrooms.

This work would all be done using SPLOST funds, and the board plans to use parts of the current SPLOST as well as the upcoming SPLOST for the projects.

“We are doing some of the preliminary work on this SPLOST fiscal year, so that we can maximize the dollars coming up in the SPLOST V, so you’ve got a little bit of carry over in there,” said John Radcliffe, assistant superintendent of maintenance and operations. “We’re getting started now in order to get that school because we’ve got a lot of renovations to Rosemont.”

Board Member Dianne Matthews expressed her concerns about construction going on during the school year, but according to Radcliffe the project will be too big to do over the summer, so that is why so much preparation is being done before the project gets fully underway.

“It is going to take quite a bit of time to get that (renovation) done,” he said. “… Most likely we’ll bring portables in for a while to keep the kids away from the construction sites. This is a pretty extensive job at the school level. We are going to be able to keep the kids away while we build the new facility – the new gym, the new cafeteria, the media center, things like that – so it’s going to be a challenge. That’s why we had to get the architect on board now, so that we can start getting the logistics worked out.”

The school board also approved the purchase of laptops using Title 1 funds and cameras for buses and furniture for Read 180 classrooms using SPLOST funds at the meeting. The school board’s next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 15 at 5:30 p.m. in the board room of the administrative services building at 100 North Davis Road.