Cobb schools SPLOST VI draft list Archives

Cobb schools SPLOST VI draft list

A rebuild of Sprayberry High School and annexes for several elementary schools in East Cobb are among the possible projects on a draft list for the proposed Cobb Education SPLOST VI draft list that was revealed Thursday.

During a Cobb Board of Education work session, Dr. James Wilson, a planning consultant for the Cobb County School District, outlined the major projects (as seen in the graphic above).

Referring to Sprayberry, he said that “a rebuild of major portions of that school” are needed for a 38-year-old campus whose last upgrade was a decade ago with a new auditorium.

A new career and technology building is earmarked at Sprayberry in the current SPLOST V period, but a construction timeline hasn’t been announced.

Wilson said the school board will be asked in September to approve a construction project for a new Sprayberry gym, which is included in the current SPLOST V collection period.

A parents group has been publicly pushing for a Sprayberry rebuild this spring, pointing out that other high schools in East Cobb have been recently getting rebuilds and major facilities improvements.

New annexes are proposed at Kincaid, Mt. Bethel, Murdock, Sope Creek and Tritt elementary schools in East Cobb, and an addition and modifications are being proposed for Bells Ferry Elementary School.

The draft list includes a commencement and special events center for the 112,000-student school district, a second career academy in the north Cobb area, athletic facility improvements, security and technology upgrades and the ability to build “undesignated classrooms,” where they’re needed but whose exact locations aren’t known now.

Wilson said a major emphasis of SPLOST VI—if it’s approved by Cobb voters in November—would be major infrastructure improvements at many schools and including 18 areas of work.

Details of the draft list were to be posted on the Cobb school district’s website. Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the draft list won’t be modified much before a final list is presented in June to the Cobb school board, which will be asked to pass a resolution calling for a November referendum.

SPLOST VI would begin in 2024 and would collect a one-percent sales tax for five years, generating nearly $900 million for school facility, maintenance and technology expenses.

The draft list calls for a rebuild for the main building at Sprayberry, which relocated to the northwest intersection of Sandy Plains Road and East Piedmont Road in 1973.

“It’s not going to be the entire school,” superintendent Chris Ragsdale said, adding that language that was consistent with recent projects at Walton, Osborne, Pebblebrook and Campbell high schools.

“It’s something that at least a couple people are pleased to hear it,” said school board member David Chastain, who represents the Sprayberry attendance zone, noting the lobbying by the parents’ group that has included several rallies on campus to bring attention to their efforts.

That group has started a Facebook page called Rebuild Sprayberry High School.

When school board member David Banks asked whether possible land purchases might be considered for Sprayberry, Ragsdale said that specifics won’t be discussed publicly (acquisitions are allowed to be discussed in executive session) and that “we’re always looking” for land for school facilities throughout the county.

Rebuilds of the main buildings on the campuses of Walton and Wheeler High School in East Cobb have taken place in recent years.

Ragsdale said the Walton project was the most challenging because it has the smallest land area of any high school in the Cobb school district.

He said the district was fortunate that land adjacent to the Walton campus was available for recent purchases for a new sports complex.