Replacing the main campus building at Sprayberry High School has long been in the works, after vocal advocacy from the community.
On Thursday, the Cobb Board of Education approved in a 7-0 vote a $71.9 million construction contract to get the project underway starting this summer.
The contract went to Carroll Daniel Construction of Atlanta, and the work is expected to take three years.
The current campus at 2525 Sandy Plains Road opened in 1973. Sprayberry was the first high school in the East Cobb area, opening in 1952 at what is now Cobb Parkway and Allgood Road and occupied by The Walker School.
The group pushing for a new Sprayberry facility includes a hashtag on its Facebook page declaring that “NowTheRealWorkBegins.”
At a school board work session Thursday before the vote, Superintendent Chris Ragsdale didn’t mince words about what that will entail.
A total of 37 portable classroom buildings will be placed in the parking lot, similar to a rebuild a decade ago at Wheeler High School, whose leaders gave that school community ample warning about the scale and length of the disruptions.
By comparison, a multi-phased rebuilding at Walton High School didn’t require portables.
Classes continued in the original classroom building until the replacement opened nearby in 2017.
The only displacements were varsity softball, baseball and tennis teams, which now have new facilities on or near campus.
The new Sprayberry facility (signified in the rendering above with beige roofs) will have four stories with 68 classrooms, new administrative and guidance offices and learning commons. Renovations also will be made to existing cafeteria space and other facilities.
But, Ragsdale said, “it’s going to be a very difficult construction. It’s not going to be a fun time. It will be an awesome campus once it’s complete.”
The Sprayberry rebuild is the first of the major projects in the current Cobb Education SPLOST VI collection period, primarily to continue the momentum of previous renovations.
A new gymnasium and Career, Technical and Agricultural Education space (at the right, indicated with a turquoise roof) was recently completed.
“We need everybody’s grace and patience with this one,” Ragsdale said.
Related:
- Cobb schools FY2025 budget proposing 4.4-9 percent pay raises
- Former Walton educator named Bartow deputy superintendent
- East Cobb high school students named Georgia Scholars
- Wheeler students to perform at Woodruff Arts Center concert
- Cobb school board chairman blasts stormwater fee proposal
- Mt. Bethel Christian appoints theater director
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