By Staff
WINDOWS Billy Griffin, left, James Miles and Robby Reynolds, top photo, work inside Kate Griffin Junior High School as Rob Smith, left, and Billy Jones stand outside on scaffolding replacing windows. Photo by Carisa McCain/The Meridian Star
By Steve Gillespie/The Meridian Star
June 13, 2001
Nearly $5 million will go toward Meridian Public Schools repairs and renovations beginning this summer part of what district officials hoped to accomplish with a $33.5 million school bond issue that failed twice last year.
Most of the work will be done at Meridian High School, with more than $2 million coming from Qualified Zone Academy Bonds. MHS will receive most of the benefit because all students in the district attend the school at some time, said Anthony Scarbrough, executive director of operations.
Renovations to the high school will take about 15 months. Work will include installation of an elevator in the activity building, expansion of the band hall, chorus and art rooms and air conditioner installation.
The library science building will have new lighting installed as well as new controls for the heating and air-conditioning system.
Some of the new air-conditioning units in the main classroom building are being removed and two units are being added. Each classroom will have its own controls for heat and air.
The outside masonry work will be patched and sealed. Bathrooms at the school are being renovated.
Other money for renovation will come from state school building funds for mechanical and electrical renovations and Mississippi Adequate Education Program funds for roofing and windows.
Included in the total is about $84,000 in school building funds to install backflow devices at all of the schools which prevent the schools' water from getting into the city water system. The state health department requires all schools to install the devices.
Other work in the district
Workers are on the campuses of many schools this week. Other repairs and renovations include:
Two new boilers at Poplar Springs Elementary and Meridian High School and one new boiler at Kate Griffin Junior High School;
Classroom heaters at Poplar Springs and Oakland Heights elementary schools. Scarbrough said the current heaters are old and obsolete and parts can't be found to repair them;
Electrical renovations at Oakland Heights, Parkview, Poplar Springs, West End and West Hills elementary schools, Magnolia Middle School, Northwest Junior High School and Marion Park Alternative School;
Aluminum windows to replace the wooden windows at Kate Griffin Junior High School; and
New roofs at Carver Middle School, Marion Park Alternative School, Kate Griffin Junior High School and Meridian High School.
Steve Gillespie is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. Call him at 693-1551, ext. 3233, or e-mail him at sgillespie@themeridianstar.com.