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The Covington County Board of Education met for a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday to begin seeking bids for a new auditorium at Straughn and also addressed three personnel matters.

“We talked a little bit about the plans for the auditorium. The architect has the plans almost finished, and we are at least to the point where we feel comfortable going enough to put it out for bids. Hopefully that will begin in the next week or two. We would like to be able to accept the bid sometime in March. If not, we will delay our meeting and have one later. We are hoping to have many contractors who are interested in bidding on it. It’s a big project for us and one all of the community is excited about,” Board President Jeff Bailey said.

The auditorium, which has a preliminary seating capacity of around 900, will be located between the middle school and the high school.

“If you’re going down the drive separating the two schools, it will be almost directly straight down that drive. The building will not accommodate every single student but should be able to accommodate the elementary and middle schools at one time or either the middle and high schools. It is certainly something we have not had in the past, and everybody is excited about it. We hope to accept the bid as early as we can and begin the project this summer. It will take about a year to complete, so we are hopeful it will be ready by the 2023-2024 school year.”

It will be used for assemblies, and drama classes will be able to have their productions inside the facility.

“The students of Covington County have an upcoming production this month, and maybe in a couple of years, we will be able to host that at Straughn instead of having to find another auditorium. It will also be used by our String Band, where they can have performances. The Sound of Gold Marching Band will be able to have their concerts, and it will be large enough with plenty of room on stage,” Bailey added.

In personnel matters, the board approved:

Employment:

• Vickie Grissett as a bus driver at Pleasant Home School effective immediately, pending verification of new or existing background reviews
• Meredith Grace Syler as a pre-K auxiliary teacher (instructional aide) at Straughn Elementary School effective immediately, pending verification of new or existing background reviews

Resignation:

• Louis Paul Cox as a maintenance worker with Covington County Schools effective Feb. 9, 2022

The board tentatively set the next meeting for Tuesday, March 1 at 5:30 p.m. in the conference room at the central office.