School To Build FFA Barn

The Jasper County School Board members voted unanimously at a called meeting Monday evening to begin construction of a new Agriculture Barn at Jasper County High School.

There has been much discussion over the last two years of school improvement amongst the board and the most recent presentation was to build a barn that will allow educational hours as well as FFA housing livestock for shows.

The work will begin immediately with preparing the site on which the barn will sit behind Jasper County High School. The cost for the barn was not to exceed $76,500, according to the decision by the board, with both Paul Kelly and Lewis Rice, board members, voicing that the final cost should come in well under that figure. The money for the barn will come out of a floating fund rather than the day to day operational budget.

The board also approved making an application to apply for state money that will go toward repairing the roof and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system at Jasper County Primary School.

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This work, if approved, will begin during the summer of the 2015 school year with state money coming in at around $939,000 with the scope of the project totaling around $2.5 million. JCPS has been experiencing a leaky roof and HVAC problems since the school was built. Most of the repairs will be done through the Jasper County schools maintenance department, according to Superintendent Dr. Mike Newton.

The board members discussed several projects that have been on a list of priorities made during their years on the board which included a new and/or resurfaced track and a multi-purpose building that would house a place for wrestling, a weight room, band storage, and competition cheerleading.

This has been toward the top of the list for some time just under any improvements needed for educational purposes and safety and health concerns. The current weight room is not completely adequate for all of its needs, and currently the wrestling team sets up mats in the commons area of the lunch room at JCHS for practice each afternoon.

The building on the list is going to be strategically placed as to continue with the hopes of one day expanding to include a stadium at JCHS. There was also discussion of a new or resurfacing the existing track that is behind Jasper County Middle School.

The current track is not up to code and, therefore, no track meets can be held at the school. Bobby Norris, board member said that improving the track has been an idea that has been “kicked around for years, and nothing ever done.”

All of these improvements are long-term goals that are being discussed with no definite timeline for beginning any of them.