Does Fayette County need a new elementary school in 2008?

That’s one of the tough questions the Fayette County Board of Education has wrangled with over the the last two weeks during lengthy school board meetings.

In 2004, voters approved a $54 million bond issue that called for the construction of two new elementary schools to deal with the system’s growth.

But as time draws near to settle on a site for the school, board members are beginning to wonder if 2008 is too soon for the school to open.

During Monday’s meeting, board Chairman Terri Smith said the system’s staff had to articulate better what they wanted and when they wanted it.

“These numbers we get for capacity are awfully wiggly,” she said.

Board member Lee Wright agreed, and said the system’s staff needed to prevent different scenarios for the two school sites available for construction. The board purchased a site on Inman Road for a new school, and also has a site available in the proposed Centennial development in the West Village in Peachtree City.

Wright said he’s not sure the school should open in 2008, and wondered what all the ramifications would be if it was pushed back until 2009.

Construction supervisor Klaus Darnell said the board would have to decide by early December if it wanted the school to open in 2008 because of a lengthy approval process by the state and putting the project out to bid.

Board member Greg Powers said he had taken an interest in the Inman Road site and believed it would help some of the overcrowding at the county’s elementary schools.

Smith countered by saying that she had also taken an interest, but wondered why the issue was brought before the board with very little time before a vote had to be taken.

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