In one of

the most divisive votes in the last few years, the Coweta

County Board of Education decided 4-3 Tuesday night to

build a new $1.2 million gym at O.P.Evans Middle School

in Newnan.

Board

member Harry Mullins brought the board the idea to build

the gym from the board's building and grounds committee

because the middle school's gym is not sufficient to hold

a lot of activities.

"The

students have to travel to Arnco-Sargent and the gym has

been that way since it was built. We've talked about

doing something for 11 years," he said.

With the

vote, the gym should be completed within a year. Funds to

build it will come from the school system's nearly $7

million reserve fund, which troubled one school board

member.

"Is

this the highest and best use of our education

dollars?" questioned board member Bill Covington.

Covington

wanted the vote tabled until the superintendent could

provide the board with a complete list of every project

in the school system that will need to be completed in

the next few years. He also wanted a lit of programs that

needed to be started to improve education in the system.

But

Covington's motion to table was defeated, and Mullins,

Smith Pass, Chairman Mike Sumner and Beth Wagstaff voted

to build the gym.

Pass said

the decision was pretty clear-cut for her.

"There's

no seating in the gym. There is not a place where the

entire student body can gather," she said.

While the

system was able to use reserve funds to fund this capital

project, Mullins added the residents in the county are

going to have to support continued special sales tax

funding for large projects.

"We

have to have SPLOST funding, or the kids will lose,"

he said.