M embers of the County Commission were given a tour of both Hickerson and East Coffee Elementary on Feb. 24 to give a glimpse into what the layout of each school looks like.

Construction projects are planned for both schools that will be funded by the county. Commissioners were given the tour to better understand what they would be voting for in the future in regard to the proposed improvements.

The Coffee County School Board approved a building direction for each school on Oct. 13 in order to better prepare the schools for estimated population growth in their areas of Coffee County.

Commissioners present for the tour were Sammy Anderson, Tim Brown, Rose Anne Carden Smith, Terry Hirschman, Dowe Jones and Dwight Miller.

A presentation of the proposed designs was then made by Deputy Director of Schools Kelvin Shores to the County Budget and Finance Committee on Jan. 8 and to the full Commission on Jan. 13.

“We finished up all the buildings except for East Coffee and Hickerson,” explained Shores at the beginning of the East Coffee tour. “They’ve all been renovated or added onto since 2010, and these are our last two buildings, and you can kind of see the reasons why.”

Hickerson, as approved by the Board, would have a new 4-section school building constructed behind the existing structure that was built in the late 1940s and had additions in either the 70s or 80s and another in 1996.

For East Coffee Elementary, Director of Schools Scott Hargrove’s recommendation was to continue to improve the school’s infrastructure by adding a new gym, cafeteria, office areas and potential classroom areas.

The Board ultimately decided to make renovations to the existing school building to upgrade it to a 3-section school.

East Coffee was built in 1963 with additions in the 1970s, 80s and in 1996 when the latest addition was added.

The improvements would also remediate issues that both schools have with pick-up and drop-off by giving them both designated areas for cars and buses. East Coffee Principal Eric Keith referred to the parking lot at the school as “a zoo from 7 to 7:15.”

Keith and Assistant Principal Lindsey Tucker were on hand to answer questions at East Coffee as were Principal Dr. Kathy Crabtree, Assistant Principal Dr. Alisha Gonzalez and Cafeteria Manager Kelly Arnold at Hickerson.

School Board Chairman Thomas Ballard and Members Robert Gilley, Scott Hansert and Chris Koon were also in attendance as well as Hargrove, Shores and Vaughn Dierks and Hays Layerd from Wold Architects.

County Mayor candidate Cheryl Swan and District 5 Commissioner candidate Jenny Davis were also in attendance for the tour as was School Nutrition Director Karlan Cotten.