The shovels will be shiny and the grounds spotless as Coweta County prepares for a visit from Gov. Roy Barnes.

Barnes will be the keynote speaker at groundbreaking ceremonies for the Central Educational Center next Friday at the CEC site on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Newnan. Local state legislators, other state officials, county and city officials, and area business and industry leaders will join the governor at the ceremonies.

“I can't ever remember the governor coming down to look at one of our schools,” said Superintendent of Education Richard Brooks.

The Central Educational Center is a charter school designed in partnership with Coweta County Schools, Carroll Technical College, and the local business and industry community.

This partnership allows the delivery of unique educational opportunities by providing seamless course offerings yielding joint credit with Carroll Technical College and transfer credit with traditional four-year universities.

“This is a pilot program for the governor in his education program,” Brooks said,

Renovations to the existing facilities will allow a full program to be offered beginning Aug. 10.

The Georgia General Assembly approved $7 million in its 2000 supplemental budget to build two new buildings at the Central site.

The additions, scheduled to be finished and operating for the 2001-2002 school year, will house additional state-of-the-art labs and equipment for the four career tracks available at CEC: business, marketing and information systems; health and medical; human services; and technical and engineering.

“We're all excited about this program,” said Brooks.¬ˆ•

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