Replacement school hearings set for next week; public invited to sound off about plan to build new middle school on what is now a dirt road —
With two public hearings set for next week, the Fayette County Board of Education is moving closer to an official final decision on the fate of the first middle school in Peachtree City, J.C. Booth.
The school system sent out an official notice for the Monday and Wednesday public hearings Friday morning.
The notice and the lack of other listed choices to be discussed suggests the decision to build the $46 million new facility on what is now a dirt road is just about a done deal.
And what about old Booth? The system suggests plans are to rent or sell the old facility or to develop a “partnership” with an unnamed college or university.
Booth began its life as a junior high school for grades 7, 8 and 9, which fed into McIntosh High School. The current Booth opened to students in 1979, while McIntosh opened in January 1981.
Here’s the system’s official news release:
The Fayette County Board of Education is considering plans to build a replacement school facility for the current J.C. Booth Middle School.
Hearings for public input are scheduled for Monday, September 23, 2019 at 6 p.m. and Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 6 p.m.
Hearings will be held in the Fayette County Board of Education meeting room located at 205 LaFayette Avenue, Building A, Fayetteville, Georgia 30214.
Relevant information concerning the proposed replacement school facility is as follows:
The current location of J.C. Booth Middle School is 250 Peachtree Parkway South, Peachtree City, Georgia 30269.
The proposed replacement facility would be located on Stagecoach Road, off of Robinson Road and south of Georgia Highway 54 in Peachtree City.
The replacement facility would be built to accommodate 1,400 students in grades six to eight.
No other schools would be modified to accommodate current J.C. Booth Middle School students, and current middle school attendance zones would not be affected.
The total cost of the proposed replacement facility is approximately $46 million, which would be funded through local sources, including ESPLOST funds and local capital project funds.
If a replacement facility is constructed, the school system would use the current facility to expand educational offerings in partnership with post-secondary institutions.
The purpose of the hearing will be for the public to make comments and suggestions related to the building of the replacement facility.
The public may submit comments or suggestions in writing to Fayette County Board of Education members at 205 LaFayette Avenue, Building A, Fayetteville, Georgia 30214 or to administrative assistant Kaye Sikes at sikes.kaye@mail.fcboe.org.
$46 million for something that is nowhere near as important to PTC as fixing the 54/74 intersection? This smacks of the bureaucratic progressivism that has fundamentally changed (not for the better) a quiet, peaceful and environmentally friendly community into something that approximates what I escaped from years ago in California. I wonder what’s in it for the elitists who make these decisions for we the people.
Since when does the County school system take on State transportation projects?
I realize this is nothing new but the ignorant complaints show how little the average citizen knows as to what is going on around them. In case you all haven’t noticed, change is inevitable. PTC is not going to revert back to a sleepy little town. This city is close to being built out and now we have encroachment from other municipalities right up to our border. This is what happens when you live next to a constant growth large city, such as Atlanta. It took a while, but here we are, and no amount of whining and complaining is going to change it. You all got a good number of years in, before the growth started here on the south side. This is what growth is. These are the hard problems that need to be solved. You can not wish these problems to go away. Either get busy coming up with good, thoughtful ideas, or move to south Georgia.
Remember the school traffic on the Parkway during bad weather? Now picture the same traffic on Robinson Rd.
They are not worried about the road. They know that the day after the new school opens, 1400 sets of PTC parents will pressure the city to pave the road and create a second entrance. Or, if a school needs a final safety inspection to open, they will be told to pave the road. Either way the school board makes it someone else’s problem. I thought things would get better after we shed ourselves of the 2 hausfraus who went on a building binge a decade ago.
Also, why grades 6-8? Would it not make things less crowded if 6th graders were kept at their elementary schools and this school or Booth was for 7-9? or even 7-8? Just asking, I really don’t know.
Makes perfect sense, put it on a dirt road when one way in/out.
That decision has already been made, they’re just playing the game at this point.