WADESBORO — The Anson County School Board met on Monday, Feb. 20, to discuss the estimated $34 million construction of the new middle school. The board will vote on a timeline for the construction on Monday, Feb. 27.
Concerns were raised about the cost of the school, both with and without a sixth-grade wing, as well as the location of the building, which is a more remote compared to other counties, opening a potential for higher costs.
“One plus is that we own part of the property, and the county owns part of the property,” chairman Dr. George Truman began explaining. “But there are two minuses are this. One, is we are a remote location. Anybody that comes here to work is going to have to bring all of their equipment here. They’re going to have to bring their people here, they’re either going to have to transport them back home every night and bring them back the next day, or, they’re going to have to put them up to reside here…The second thing is, we’re remote. We don’t have any local vendors to bid on this project.”
Rep. Mark Brody was in attendance to discuss financing and the future of the project.
The district is looking for other ways to acquire extra funding through state and federal grants. These include grants from FEMA and the US Department of Energy, as the school is designed to serve as a natural disaster shelter for Anson County.
Other grants include the Safe Schools grant, a state-wide grant from the Department of Instructions Center for Safer Schools. The grant provides money to districts for resources that would make the school safer, such as safety equipment, school resource officers, and additional measures that would make the school safer through equipment and personnel.
The school board will meet on Monday, Feb 27, to discuss moving forward, and bring the official proposal to a vote.