High school construction on schedule despite rain
Published 11:00 am Tuesday, July 25, 2017
- The interior of one of the health science labs. The interior is being finished to look more like a hospital to allow students to experience as accurate a learning experience as possible.
TIFTON — Six inch deep mud has only slightly hindered construction at Tift County High School, where crews are working to finish certain sections before the beginning of the school year.
Robbie Dasher, director of operations for the Tift County School System, said that construction is about 30 percent complete, which is right on schedule despite the rain.
“Most every afternoon we’ve been getting showers and thunderstorms coming through. The contract does allow for a certain number of rain days,” he said, adding that if there are more rain days than are allowed for they have leeway to work with the contractor to accommodate.
“It doesn’t stop construction,” he said, referring to the rain, “it just makes it more difficult.”
“A lot of attention is being given to the front entrance and driveway,” Dasher said. “That’s a key component to complete before school starts.”
Once the project is complete, the high school will have separate entrances for students, car drop offs, buses and faculty, with the main entrance being kept clear for visitors and emergency response vehicles.
Additions housing new agricultural science labs, healthcare labs and science labs are nearing completion.
The healthcare science labs are having cabinetry installed, and the other labs are having electrical wiring and duct work put in.
In the front of the building where the employee parking lot used to be, two wings are being added to hold classrooms and administrative offices.
This section is slated to be completed by the end of the year.
Work has not yet begun on the auxiliary gym, which will be directly adjacent to the existing gym.
The new wing will include a restroom that can be accessed from the outside and may be utilized when students are at band or soccer practice.
Project one, which is where the construction is now, only consists of additions with limited renovations.
The entire project is slated to be completed by April of 2018, according to Dasher.
One phase will be completed at the end of the summer, another phase will be completed by November.
Project two, which will begin the summer of 2018, will overhaul older parts of the building and will be completed for the start of the 2018-2019 school year.
