While most of the Richmond County school community has been focused on the hiring of the new superintendent, Malinda Cobb, and the ongoing discussions over the millage rate, the school system has been quietly working in the background to both start and finish new construction projects.
Currently, the school system is planning one new elementary school, as well as putting the finishing touches on the newly renovated historic Academy of Richmond County building on Walton Way.
Jeff Baker, program manager, gave school board trustees a progress update at the Aug. 12 meeting which outlined where the system is at in many sites across the county. The good news is that most of the construction due to finish as school starts in earnest are on time, even though the weather hasn’t been very cooperative, necessitating some minor adjustments in the schedules of early football games.
Plans are already in place to begin construction of a new school to replace Barton Chapel Elementary School with an entirely new building. If all goes as planned, Baker says, the process will take only two years, from demolition in summer of 2026 to the ribbon cutting scheduled for fall of 2028.
Baker says the system is using an innovative approach by using a slightly modified design based on the new Richmond Hill Elementary and constructing the new building on the footprint of the old school.
“We call it a regeneration. When school is out, the kids are out and the programs are out in summer of 2026, the old school is coming down and we will place a brand new school on its site,” Baker said.
Butler High School has plans drawn up to replace the old softball/baseball field that will include more parking spaces and refreshed amenities. Baker says that the new parking will be below the field and near the practice field, which will need to be made slightly smaller.
Even though the original field was larger, there will be more total green space as several buildings used for storage will be demolished and new buildings erected near the dugouts. The driveway and curbing will also be replaced to fit in with the changes on the field and parking area.
Baker told the school board that while the plan for Butler was moving out of the conceptual phase, the Hephzibah High School ballfield construction project has been hampered by the last several weeks of storms that tend to pop-up seemingly out of nowhere and dump inches of rain at a time.
One such storm occurred after a week’s worth of grading, spreading stone and removing unsuitable soil and quite literally turned the area into a pond-size bowl of muddy stew that set the project back weeks. According to Baker, some of the work is having to be redone, but the rain might be a blessing in disguise as the crew was able to determine spots where the water might pool over the surface of the field, causing damage and adjustments have been made to prevent future run off problems.
As a result, Hephzibah’s first home game on Sep. 4 will be played at the Butler field location. The plan now is to be able to open the field on the second planned home game, Sep. 26, which, incidentally is also homecoming. Baker says that having the field open for the first home game was a gamble with the weather, but a back-up plan was already in place and so the target opening date can be changed without to much inconvenience.
“That is our new objective, our new milestone, our focus; we want to do the best we can to give them as many home games as we can with the beautiful new field,” Baker said.
Across town, work on the Academy of Richmond County building is at the point where workers are touching up paint and giving a final cleaning up of construction materials in time for scheduled grand opening and open house on Oct. 11.
Workers are cleaning up the paper drop covers lining the hallway as techs check all the wired and wireless connections as the historic building gets ready to open its doors once again.
The building, which will celebrate its 100th year of public education in 2026 has been remodeled to state-of-the-art standards while retaining has its “old school” charm. Gone are the gloomy industrial looking drop ceilings and eye-numbing florescent lights in favor of ceiling fans and pendulum lighting.
Baker says that the architectural design called for allowing as much natural light in as possible. The new, taller windows work well with the high ceilings to give the interior of the building a new, fresh feel. To retain the historic feel, the designers chose to use a “picture frame” design approach where modern equipment still has that “blackboard” appeal.
Students will have access to a fully upgraded system using the latest in scholastic learning computer systems.
Speaking of a blackboard, the school has a room containing a real chalk blackboard and period desks that have been refurbished so that old timers can get a reminder of what the school looked like decades ago when they attended there.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter, editorialist and weekly columnist for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
