New Claxton Elementary 20% complete
Construction continues on the new Claxton Elementary School at the former site of Crossroads Christ Fellowship Church in Claxton. (photo:Ben Pounds )
“We’re actually two months ahead of schedule right now, which scares me a little bit,” Anderson County Director of Schools Tim Parrott told the County Commission at its Jan. 20 meeting.
The new school will be at the former site of Crossroads Christ Fellowship Church.
Parrott said the school system has spent $12 million on the project, and in February he plans to do a bond issue for $10 million more.
He said he’d been discussing getting the current school property at 2218 Clinton Highway ready to sell. The school system must give the old school property to the County Commission, which come up with specific plans for a sale.
“That way you have impact in terms of what goes into that property,” Parrott said. “It’s not just sold to the highest bidder.”
County Commissioner Tracy Wandell at the same meeting discussed the possibility of new recreational facilities for the Claxton area, either an outdoor park or an indoor gym at either the current school site or the future one.
The Tennessee Valley Authority decided to close the Kids’ Palace Playground, which served the same community last year. Wandell along with fellow Commissioner Chad McNabb represent District One which includes all these locations in the Claxton community.
“We’ve had our community looking and trying to understand where the playground’s going to go in Claxton,” Wandell said. He said there was some discussion about putting the playground at the new school’s site.
However, his focus was on possibilities for the current school’s site. He said he would like the county to consider converting the school’s V. L. Stonecipher Gym into a new community center. Property near that gym, he said, might also be good for a new playground. He wanted himself and McNabb to be involved in these discussions in the future.
Parrott did not commit to any of these ideas at the meeting. Wandell told The Courier News all these recreation facility ideas would depend on how the school system sells the land and old school buildings, but also the Claxton community’s feedback.
He said two to three acres out of the total current school’s 17 would be enough space for a new playground while still letting the school system raise enough funds for the new school from the sale of other land at the current school.
“The big thing that we want to make sure of is that the community’s being heard on this,” McNabb told The Courier News, calling the new school’s construction and old school’s sale a “major, major event for the community.” He said he wanted to avoid having the process go by too quickly for people who live in Claxton to give their thoughts.
