Opp students may soon get a new physical education facility.

At Thursday’s board meeting, the board gave attorney Wesley Laird the authority to work out a deal to sell a portion of the South Highlands Elementary School property.

In selling the property, Superintendent Michael Smithart said it will limit the school system “some on the physical education facilities.”

Smithart asked the board for their blessing to engage an architect to see how much a building would cost.

Smithart said the system has approximately $150,000 in Qualified School Construction Bonds funds to utilize $150,000 for the project.

“We hope to build a PE building that’s 80 (feet) by 120 (feet), and it will be metal,” he said.

Smithart said initial thoughts are to put a spot for cheerleading and dance, and then have a large area for students to use in their physical education classes.

Board member Cheryl Graves questioned whether the facility would be heated and cooled.

“The cheer and dance would be,” Smithart said. “We’ll probably have fans and doors that we can let up on the large portion. When you talk about heating and cooling, we have to think about the price factor.”

Board member Robert Young said he thought it was a good idea.

“Anytime we have an opportunity to improve our facilities, I think it’s good,” he said.

Additionally, the board gave attorney Wesley Laird the authority to work out a deal on selling a portion of the South Highlands Elementary School property to Opp’s Southside Baptist Church.

“Southside is a great entity to purchase this property,” Smithart said.

In other business the board:

• Off-ered employment to Diane Calhoun, teacher at OES; Kerri Anderson, teacher at OMS; and Melissa Mims, business marketing teacher at OHS;

• Approved administrative contracts for Aaron Hightower, OMS principal, and Jeff Rhodes, career technical education director;

• Accepted the retirement of James Rhodes as custodian at OMS;

• Approved a transfer for Grady Brooks form custodian at OHS to custodian at OMS;

• Approved family medical leave for Katie Johnson;

• App-roved the purchase of a GEHL telescopic fork lift from Scotty Short Development for $12,000. Smithart said the forklift currently owned by the system is nearly useless and for safety reasons, a forklift is better than a tall latter.