Next week,

Fulton County school officials break ground on one of the biggest projects

they have ever undertaken a $55 million, state-of-the-art high school.

Meanwhile,

in South Fulton County, works is continuing on the $14 million Dodson

Road Elementary school site. School officials are continuing to open

bids on the project and expect it to open in the fall of 2002.

Fulton County

School System parents, community leaders and administrators Wednesday

will celebrate the construction of a new community high school in north

Fulton.

The groundbreaking

ceremony at 10625 Parsons Road in unincorporated Alpharetta marks the

early stages of the county's first school constructed using a design-build

process.

Normally,

construction does not begin on a project until all segments of the site

and building plans are final and approved. But with a design-build process,

construction begins on completed segments of the project plans, while

architects refine and complete plans for other parts of the project.

System leaders

elected to use the design-build format to shave a year off the normal

three-year cycle used in high school construction. The $55 million high

school, which reduces enrollment at Chattahoochee and Milton high schools,

is scheduled to open in the fall of 2002.

Designed

high school prototype. The 73-acre site includes the 271,000-sq. ft.

main building with a 12,000-sq. ft. secured courtyard, 600-seat auditorium,

and 2,000-seat gymnasium with fold-up goals and court-level running

track; 3,500-seat stadium with bleachers, concession stands and maintenance

building; athletic playing fields and tennis courts; and about 700 on-site

parking spaces.

Like all

Fulton schools constructed in recent years, the high school maximizes

use of natural light, bringing the out-of-doors inside school boundaries.

There are 60 standard and 36 laboratory classrooms with computer ports

for five students and one teacher in each classroom, a fully equipped

kitchen with a modern "food court" design and five serving

lines, media center with courtyard reading areas, and music spaces for

pre- and post-event functions.