The Oconee County Board of Education on Monday approved a state-required five-year facilities plan that projects growing enrollment through the 2028-2029 school year and calls for expanded high school instructional space to address that growth.
The total cost of the construction in the plan is $67.1 million, with $16.2 million of that listed as eligible for state funding and the remaining $50.9 million coming from local sources.
Of that $67.1 million, nearly 60 percent would be used for changes at the system’s two high schools, with $21.6 million designated for North Oconee High School and $17.9 million to be spent at Oconee County High School.
Details of the Five Year Facilities Plan are in a 127-page document that Oconee County Schools has prepared to submit to the state to justify its request for state funding.
A single-page summary of that document was presented to the Board at its work session on March 3. That document listed only the state funding and few details about construction being planned at each of the system’s 12 schools.
In responding to questions from the Board at Monday night’s meeting, Superintendent Jason Branch played down the importance of the summary document and the resolution the Board actually passed to send forward the request to the state, saying the document was fluid and can be modified in the future.
Before that vote, during the public comment section of the meeting, a citizen said that her child made her aware of a behavioral problem in his school and that she had been denied access to requested information about school safety, behavioral threat assessments, and communication protocols within Oconee County Schools.
When Board Member Adam Hammond thanked the speaker and asked Branch if behavioral problems as described occur frequently in Oconee County Schools, Branch cut him off and said sternly that they do not.
What Is Proposed
The detailed five-year plan approved by the Board lists the addition of seven instructional units at North Oconee High School, consisting of five science rooms and classrooms, one engineering and technology multiuse laboratory, and one broadcast/video production lab.
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| Ransom, Hammond, Ricketson, Brock Toole |
Also listed are support facilities, including restrooms, modifications to existing facilities, such as replacement of a dishwasher and replacement of a HVAC, and renovations, including a new ceiling, new floor covering, and rewiring.
A new science lab is proposed for Oconee County High School.
In addition, the plan for Oconee County High School lists modifications, including replacement of a roof, replacement of a HVAC, and replacement of a dishwasher.
The plan lists $9.4 million for renovations and modifications at Malcom Bridge Elementary School, $4.4 million for renovations and modifications Malcom Bridge Middle School, $4.1 million for renovations and modifications at High Shoals Elementary School, $3.3 million at Rocky Branch Elementary School, and $2.4 million at Oconee County Middle School.
Modifications are planned at Colham Ferry Elementary School ($1.5 million), Oconee County Elementary School ($0.96 million), and Oconee County Primary School ($1.5 million).
The state is being asked to contribute only part of these costs.
No construction is proposed for the system’s two newest schools, Dove Creek Elementary School and Dove Creek Middle School.
Detailed Report
I obtained the detailed report that Oconee County Schools is submitting to the state only at 5:00 p.m. on Monday (March 10) in response to an open records request I had filed on 3:13 p.m. on March 5.
Prior to requesting the detailed report I had asked Board Chair Michael Ransom to review the summary document with me, but he was not willing to do that.
The single-page summary document released at the March 3 meeting contained only cost figures for the amount of money being sought by the state, not the amount of money that will be required locally.
The document I obtained also included the enrollment projections that are a central part of the request before the state. Those were not presented to the Board on March 3.
The detailed report acknowledges that Oconee County Schools has not experienced the growth that it had projected in earlier reports.
Last year, Oconee County Schools was projecting an enrollment in 2028-2029 of 9,038 students.
The projection offered in the new Five Year Plan for 2028-2029 is 8,556, or a difference of 182 students.
Enrollment in October of 2024 was 8,474, representing a drop from 8,535 the year earlier, but both figures include the children of employees of Oconee County Schools, who are not counted for state funding purposes.
The detailed report lists enrollment for 2023-2024 at 8,411 and an estimated 8,500 enrollment for the current year. (Spring enrollment counts have not been released yet.)
The document submitted to the state projects steady growth to the figure of 8,856 in 2028-2029.
At one point in the document, it lists capacity of the two high schools at 2,000 students, up from the current 1,500.
Board Comments
Board members had not asked Fred Ricketson, Director of Facilities for Oconee County Schools, for details of the Five-Year Plan when he presented it to them on March 3.
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| Hammock 3/10/2025 |
On Monday (March 10), they did ask for more information before they were willing to vote, but all of their questions were in reference to the single-page summary document, not the detailed report I obtained from the open records request
Board Member Ryan Hammock, referring to that single-page document, wanted details on what is meant by the categories of state funding.
Ricketson gave examples and then told Hammock that “this list is only a list of items that we’re eligible to receive money for. There is not a request at all asking for funding of any of these things. We are simply eligible for these dollars.”
Hammock then turned to Branch and asked if the Board could make changes in the document in the future.
“Yes,” Branch said. “This is a planning document that can be modified through the process.”
More Questions From Board
Board Member Adam Hammond asked Branch if the document represented actual projected needs in the next five years.
“I think certainly by listing North Oconee facility, staff is telling you that is the building that is most ready for an update,” Branch responded.
“The additions that are there are just showing that we earned that entitlement,” Branch said. “Staff will be digging to review enrollment and review whether those additions will be necessary.”
“It is good that we’re earning that,” he said. “If we see continued growth, there may be nine classroom units there and we need two somewhere else.”
The “entitlement” Branch is referring to for the additions comes from the growth in enrollments.
“Just to be clear,” Hammock said. “This is a request that will come from the state. And then of course there will have to be local dollars that have to go along with this should we decide that any of these items will be put forward?”
“Absolutely,” Branch said. “We have to spend about 75 percent to get 25 percent.”
The detailed report lists precisely the cost estimates, with the stipulation that “Architect cost estimates provided by Becky Pope, Lindsay Pope Brayfield & Associates” from Lawrenceville.
First Citizen Speaker
Katie Vickery told the Board during the public comment section of the meeting that “six month ago I made the difficult decision to unenroll my boys from Rocky Branch Elementary.”
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| Vickery Leaves Podium 3/10/2025 |
“My son was previously in a classroom where disruptive behavior was common,” she said. “Serious threats were made. Objects were thrown. And evacuations became routine.”
She said she “only learned about these incidents because my son told me.”
She said she met, following the school shooting at Apalachee High School, with the principal “to ask what I believed to be straightforward questions. How are threats assessed, managed and communicated to parents?”
She said she did not receive a clear answer, and she followed up with emails to “school and district leadership, yet I received no clear response, no solution.”
“When my emails went unanswered,” she said, “I filed an open records request for basic documents any parent should have access to.”
She said she asked for a parent handbook, behavioral threat assessment procedures, parent communication policy, a school safety plan. She was told the documents didn’t exist or were exempt from disclosure, she said.
“Tonight I am asking the Board to choose to be bothered,” she said. “Be bothered that parents are left in the dark. Be bothered that transparency is treated as an inconvenience, not a responsibility.”
“Be bothered that behavior issues at Rocky Branch are escalating,” she said. “This is not an isolated incident.”
“Are we more concerned with maintaining the illusion of great schools or actually insuring them?” she asked.
Board Response
When Vickery left the podium, Hammond said “I have a quick question in response to that. Thank you, Ms. Vickery, for your time today. That is a great question. This is place for answers.”
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| Branch 3/10/2025 |
Turning to Branch, Hammond said “I’m curious. What is the policy if a threat is in a student’s classroom. How is that typically communicated to parents?”
Branch hesitated before responding.
“It depends on the situation of the classroom experience,” he said. “So every situation is different. And the availability of the information we can share is different based on the situation.”
Hammond responded: “Would you say that is a frequent issue or is it.”
Branch interrupted: “No.”
The exchanged ended at that.
Next Speaker
Ian Taylor asked: “Is there any chance that you all could at least publish an agenda with the details of what’s going on in the meeting ahead of the meeting?”
What is on the web site, he continued, “is a list of placeholders, not what actually is going on.”
Taylor said he knows that on Friday afternoon newspapers in the area get an email with a more detailed agenda.
“That would be relatively simply to put onto your web site,” he said.
“We are going to get walloped with a huge tax increase this year,” Taylor predicted. “It would be nice if you all could publish so people in the county could actually come and understand what it is that we’re going to be paying taxes for.”
“If you want transparency in the county,” he said, “let them know what you are going to talk about.”
Video
The video below is of the March 10 meeting of the Board of Education.
Vickery began speaking at 28:05 in the video.
Taylor began his comments at 31:55.
Discussion of the Five Year Facility Plan begins at 35:27 in the video.
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