Andalusia High School is shy of three columns this week, Superintendent Ted Watson said.

Earlier this summer, when the board of education set out to replace the decaying columns, AHS graduate Kyle Boatwright, owner of Worthington Millworks, Inc., donated them.

“We were out there installing the new columns, and as with all construction issues or projects, there seems to be unforeseen problems,” Watson said. “It appears that while the columns were load bearing, there were not holding much up, because most everything they were hanging on to was rotten.”

Watson said he had personally inspected parts of the project.

“We had a lot of rotten boards and compromised wood there,” he said. “It’s one of those things you’re glad you did find out, because it could have been a problem.”

Watson also has been talking to school board members about the need to replace the windows in “Old Main.”

Tuesday, he told council members that he had explored the possibility of replacing the windows with exact matches.

“There are 188 windows, and they would have been $3,200 each,” he said.

Watson said he has found an alternative from Carolina Mill Works that will be only $286 per window, plus installation.

“It needs to be done,” Watson said.

The system is using city sales tax dollars earmarked for the school to make the improvements. The council reserved the right to approve projects for which the monies will be used.

“If we are going to stay in the old building – and I have no intentions of moving out of it – we’ve got to stay on top of the maintenance,” Watson said. “The money placed in that building is well worth it, and we need to continue to keep it up.”