Submitted photoThree buildings located on the Thomas County Board of Education campus will be modernized for use by the Pathways Educational Program.

The Georgia Department of Education has awarded the Thomas County School System a $1 million facility grant for the modernization of three buildings on the current Board of Education campus, located at 200 North Pinetree Blvd., for use by the Pathways Education Program.

As a member of Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support, Thomas County’s Pathways Educational Program serves eight school systems in Southwest Georgia. Because of the sparsity of students requiring the intensive support Pathways provides, a partnership exists among the school systems in the service area to bring these students to centralized locations. 

The Thomas County School System operates Pathways sites in Thomas, Decatur and Colquitt counties. The Thomas County site to be renovated serves three of the eight school systems that are part of the Pathways network: Thomas County, Thomasville City, and Grady County. 

The Thomas County site is located on a 36-acre campus that was originally occupied in 1958 as Central High School. Following the construction of Thomas County Central High School in 1990, the campus served as the district’s middle school from 1990 until 2004 when a new middle school was constructed. The district office, Pathways, and the district’s alternative school (Renaissance Center) relocated to the campus in 2005. A new $3.5 million building was constructed on the campus in 2014 for Bishop Hall Charter School. 

The location of Pathways near Bishop Hall Charter School and the Renaissance Center allows the three programs to share the services of a full-time school nurse, a full-time school resource officer, custodians, and technology services.

At present, Thomas County Pathways occupies four buildings, connected by covered walkways, on the original high school campus.   

The goal of the grant program is to provide educational spaces that are comparable to other schools in the District while effectively meeting the needs of this unique population.  

“Thomas County included funding to renovate the Pathways facility in the ESPLOST referendum that was approved by voters on March 1, 2016,” said Thomas County School Superintendent Dr. Dusty Kornegay. “The district has reserved ESPLOST funds for the Pathways renovations, but allocated funding will not be sufficient to fully modernize the Pathways site. Grant funding will allow Thomas County to stretch ESPLOST funds while fully modernizing the buildings used by Pathways.”

Each of the three buildings to be modernized will receive a new roof, new windows and doors, new heating and air-conditioning systems, new restrooms, new floor covering, new ceilings and lights, and new paint. Except for the outer building envelope, the buildings will be like brand new classrooms at much less cost that would be required to build an entirely new building.

A team from Thomas County Schools, including the GNETS director, the facilities director, the superintendent, and the system architect, met to discuss renovations to the space utilized by Pathways. Multiple meetings and site visits have occurred. A committee of Pathways personnel including the coordinator, a teacher, social worker, and crisis interventionist was formed to make recommendations and suggestions.  

One major addition will be new restrooms in each building. Currently, all students utilize one set of multiuser restrooms located outside the classroom areas and accessed from the walkway. Restrooms currently in use were part of the original 1958 construction and have received only minor upgrades over the years. The team felt it necessary to provide students with modern restrooms accessible from within the buildings and close to their classrooms.  

Proposed plans show four single-user restrooms in both classroom buildings, two female and two male. The team believed having single-user restrooms near the classes would provide easy supervision, privacy, and save time, thus increasing instructional time. 

“The Thomas County School System has been and continues to be a strong supporter for the services Pathways Educational Program provides students,” said Pathways Director Jeanene Wallace. “Applying for this grant is just one example of how the system is dedicated to ensuring every student has a well-equipped and well-maintained facility where quality instruction can be delivered and all students can be successful. We are all very excited about the upcoming renovations.”

Plans for the renovations are in the approval stage with construction expected to begin in January and completion set for the opening of the 2018-19 school year.