Crossroads Elementary opens and South Paulding renovation moves forward; district details bus refueling site and athletic buildings

Paulding County School District facilities staff told the board Aug. 4 that Crossroads Elementary opened after a July ribbon-cutting and that multiple capital projects completed or nearing completion will support the new school year.

"We have 54 instructional units ready to go for learning today," Executive Director of Facilities Doug Carey said, describing Crossroads as a collaborative effort across district teams and community partners. Carey also outlined a first-phase bus refueling facility to be built on undeveloped property at the Crossroads site, including a connector road and parking to reduce traffic on Timberwolf Drive.

Carey described South Paulding High School's renovation as the district's largest to date, with exterior work (new roof, gutters, HVAC) and interior refreshes (hallways, new weight room, expanded JROTC and a broadcast/video lab in support of CTAE). He also showed progress on multipurpose athletic buildings at four high schools—prototype designs customized with each school's colors and logos—and said most finishing touches were expected this week.

On athletic facilities, Carey reported that three of the four new athletic buildings had certificates of occupancy as of the morning and the fourth was expected by Wednesday pending fire-inspection closeout items. Board members also asked about turf and auditorium sound systems; Carey said turf installations at all five high schools were complete and auditorium systems were usable but not yet ready for full theatrical productions.

District staff presented the South Paulding capital outlay application (see separate article) for board placement on the Aug. 18 consent agenda; no action on that application was taken at the Aug. 4 meeting.