The Andalusia Board of Education on Monday entered an agreement with Goodwynn, Mills and Cawood, Inc. for architectural work at Andalusia High School.

The Andalusia City Council, Public Educational Building Authority (PEBA), and school board are working together to complete major projects at AHS, which include renovations to the auditorium, and to the stadium. The agreement approved Monday is only for the auditorium.

The PEBA has been raising private funding for the work.

Superintendent Ted Watson asked for approval of the agreement, even though he is still working through details of a memorandum of understanding with the other entities related to funding the project.

Board Chairman Dr. David McCalman said the board will only be responsible for actual architectural work completed if the bids for the project came in too high.

Watson said the next step is to have architects come and meet with school officials to nail down details.

Timing is critical, as the project calls for the stage portion of the auditorium to be torn down. At a previous meeting, board members were told it is possible that demolition could begin after graduation in May of 2017, and the new facility could be ready for graduation in May of 2018.

The architect’s fee is 8.125 percent of the cost of work, estimated at more than $3 million. The agreement gives the architects 15 calendar days for schematic drawings; 30 calendar days for preliminary drawings; and 30 calendar days for final drawings.

In other business, the board:

• Accepted the resignation of AJHS 8th grade math teacher Jordan Driver.
• Accepted the resignation of AES cafeteria worker Alana Ball.
• Transferred Nichole Jackson from AHS math teacher to AJHS math teacher.
• Hired Yvette Akridge as AHS math teacher. She comes to AHS from Enterprise High School, where she also was a math teacher.
• Granted a leave of absence to AES first grade teacher Claire Walters.

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