Oconee County School Board Being Asked To Approve Five-Year Facilities Plan; Upgrades For North Oconee High School Top Priority

***No Mention Of Third High School***

Oconee County Schools is planning the addition of seven instructional units to North Oconee High School in the next five years as well as substantial renovations and modifications of the facility.

The school system is telling the state that the changes at North Oconee High School are its top construction priority for the next five years and asking the state to contribute $4.5 million to those changes. Total costs are expected to exceed $13 million.

Oconee County Schools also is planning to add one instructional unit and make modifications at Oconee County High School as well as make modifications and/or renovations at eight other school facilities in the system through 2029.

These plans are outlined in a single-page document presented to the Board of Education by Superintendent Jason Branch at the Board meeting on March 3 with the request that the document be approved by the Board at its meeting on Monday (March 10).

The state deadline for approval of the document is March 15.

No discussion of what is called the Five Year Facilities Plan Tabulation of Priorities took place at the meeting on March 3, and the Plan appears on the agenda for Monday only as an action item, rather than as an item for discussion.

The state-required Five Year Facilities Plan is likely to be a forerunner for construction projects voters will be asked to approve as part of a new Education Local Option Sales Tax (ELOST) to replace the current ELOST, which expires in at the end of 2027.

Board of Education Chair Michael Ransom referred questions about the Five Year Facility Plan, which makes no mention of a third high school, to Chief Operations Officer Ryan White, who did not respond.

Oconee County Schools Open Records Officer Steven Colquitt has delayed providing supplemental materials behind the single-page summary presented to the Board until some time on Monday at the earliest.

What Is Requested

The single-page Tabulation of Priorities, put on the Oconee County Schools web site on March 4, the day after the Board work session the evening before, provides little detail about what the Board will be telling the Georgia Department of Education are its priorities.

Ricketson After Briefing Board
3/3/2025

The document lists $4,545,495 in what is called Eligible Need, that is, funding being requested from the state for the North Oconee High facility.

Included are $281,752 in Support, $925,296 for the Addition of seven instructional units, $1,304,380 for Renovations of 78 units, and $2,034,067 for Modifications.

When Fred Ricketson, Director of Facilities for Oconee County Schools, presented the Tabulation of Priorities to the Board on March 3, he said that “state funding for any of these projects typically amounts to a fourth to a third of the actual cost to do the project.”

If that calculation is applied to the $4,545,495, total cost of the construction at North Oconee High School would range from $13.6 million to $18.2 million.

Additional Items

The one-page Tabulation of Priorities also indicates that the state is being asked to contribute $1.8 million toward a added instructional unit and modifications at Oconee County High School.

The ask is for $2.2 million for renovations and modifications at Malcom Bridge Elementary School, $1.9 at for renovations and modifications Malcom Bridge Middle School, and $1.4 million for renovations and modifications at both High Shoals Elementary School and Rocky Branch Elementary School, and $1.2 million for renovations and modifications at Oconee County Middle School.

Modifications are planned at Colham Ferry Elementary School, Oconee County Elementary School, and Oconee County Primary School totaling 1.7 million.

No construction is proposed for the system’s two newest schools, Dove Creek Elementary School and Dove Creek Middle School.

The total request on the Tabulation of Priorities is for $16.2 million.

Based on the calculation suggested by Ricketson, that would represent between $48.6 and $64.8 million in construction costs. 

Delay And Cover Letter

In presenting the single sheet to the Board on March 3, Ricketson said that “Every five years we’re required by the Department of Education to develop a local facilities plan.”

Ransom 3/3/2025

“This plan is specifically related to any facility work that would be eligible for state funding,” he continued.

Ricketson also presented to the Board a resolution it is being asked to approve on Monday (March 10).

“BE IT RESOLVED by the Oconee County Board of Education (“Board”) to hereby approve the new Local Facilities Plan (“Plan”) as recommended by the Facilities Survey Team and the Superintendent,” the resolution reads.

“In adopting the Plan, the Board agrees with its contents and priorities, and requests State Board of Education approval,” the resolution continues.

“Furthermore, the Board directs that the Plan will provide facility guidance for the school system over the life of the Plan in accordance with Georgia Board of Education Rule 160-5-4-01,” it states.

That code section specifies that “Each local board of education shall develop and submit to the State Board of Education for approval once every five years a facilities plan that identifies the system's facility needs for the ensuing five years.”

The plan is defined as “a study of a local school system's present educational facilities and a five-year forecast of facility needs.”

Request For Delay

The most recently approved Five Year Facilities Plan was created in 2019 and expired on June 30 of 2024.

In December of 2023, the Board voted to approve a resolution requesting an extension of that plan.

“Whereas the OCS is currently in the strategic planning process that may determine the anticipated direction of additions and/or new facilities,” that resolution read.

“Whereas the OCS desires to include this direction in its new local facilities plan,” it continued.

“Be it resolved that the OCS Board of Education is requesting a one-year extension of its local facilities plan formal development process so the results of the strategic planning process can be included in the new plan,” the resolution reads.

“Further be it further resolved that with this extension, the development of the OCS new local facilities plan will be completed by March 15, 2025,” the resolution continues.

Supplementary Document

After the Board approved that resolution, I filed an open records request for the detailed documents related to the 2019 plan.

Branch 3/3/2025

Georgia Code requires that the actual Five Year Facilities Plan includes historical data on enrollments, projected future enrollments, and capacity of current facilities.

The school system is required to specify Renovations, Modifications, Additions, and New Schools “and estimated full costs of those facilities.”

I received a 127-page document that listed the proposed Dove Creek Middle School as a new facility, the addition of two units at Oconee County High School and five units at North Oconee High School, and renovations and/or modifications at each of the remaining schools excepting the newly opened Dove Creek Elementary School.

Instructional units included classrooms, science labs, and engineering and technology multi-use labs.

Renovations included new floor covering, new ceilings, and restroom modernization.

Modifications in that report included such things as replacing a HVAC, a roof, and kitchen equipment.

ELOST

The Five Year Facilities Plan approved by the Board for 2019 is not a perfect match with the list of projects from ELOST VI, the current sales tax in place, but it is close.

The 2019 Plan included the new Dove Creek Middle School and renovations and/or modifications at each of the other schools in the system except the Dove Creek Elementary School.

Classrooms were added at Colham Ferry Elementary School, High Shoals Elementary School, and Malcom Bridge Elementary School through ELOST VI, but they were not on the original 2019 version of the Facilities Plan.

The original 2019 Plan did include the Instructional Support Center, though no state funds were requested for the facility, which does not have instructional units.

That original 2019 Plan listed land acquisition for a new high school, but no funds were requested from the state for that. Oconee County Schools has not purchased land for a new high school.

The Five Year Facilities Plan before the Board on Monday makes no reference to land or any other requests for a third high school.

Based on the official enrollment count for October of last year, none of the 12 instructional facilities operated by Oconee County Schools is at capacity, and many are considerably below capacity.

Dove Creek Middle School, for example, had 486 students in a facility built for 1,000.

Closest to capacity was North Oconee High School, with 1,479 students in October in a facility with a capacity of 1,500.

Oconee County High School had 1,315 students in a facility with the capacity of 1,500.

Superintendent Branch in recent years has talked both about the need for a third high school and about the possibility of expanding the capacity of both high schools to 2,000 students at a cost of about $15 million per school, or about what is listed as the costs of the upgrade at North Oconee High School is in the Plan the Board is to consider on Monday.

Requests For Meeting

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners releases to the public reports it will discuss on Tuesday by the end of the day on the preceding Friday, and the City of Watkinsville releases on Friday materials for its meeting the following Wednesday.

The Board of Education, however, does not release materials discussed at its Monday evening meetings until Tuesday morning.

I attended the meeting on March 3 and heard Ricketson discuss briefly the Five Year Facilities Plan.

I wrote to Ransom at 12:08 on Tuesday (March 4), asking if there is “any chance you and I could sit down and talk about this, maybe on Saturday at the Library...I'd like to go over this plan with you.”

Ransom wrote back that evening (March 4) saying “The five-year plan is a required document used by the state to receive reimbursable funding. Staff complete it with help from the state, and the Board approves it each time. Since this is part of daily operations and COO Dr. Ryan White is actively involved, he is the best person to answer questions.”

“I have copied Dr. White on this email if you would like to ask him any specific questions,” the email from Ransom continued.

Request Sent To White

I wrote back to both Ransom and White that evening (March 4), telling White I would like to meet with him and asking him to “let me know what is possible...I can be at your office on short notice or at a time that fits your schedule.”

White OCS Video
Screen Shot 3/3/2025

I never heard from White, but at 5 p.m. on March 5, I received this email from Colquitt, who, in addition to handling open records requests, is Director of Communications for Oconee County Schools:

“Good afternoon. Thank you for your interest in speaking with Dr. White about the five-year plan; however, we are unable to accommodate an in-person interview. If you would like to submit a couple of questions by email to me, though, we will do our best to address them thoroughly and promptly.”

I told Colquitt saying “I am not interested in sending you ‘a couple of questions' for Dr. White.”

I also wrote immediately to Ransom, forwarding to him the message from Colquitt, and saying “I still would like to talk to you if you are willing.”

I have not heard back from Ransom.

Request For Information

At 3:13 p.m. on March 5, when it seemed that White was not going to respond to me, I filed an open records request with Colquitt.

Colquitt OCS Video
Screen Shot 3/3/2025

I asked for “All supplemental documents and materials that Oconee County Schools has prepared for submission to the Georgia Department of Education to accompany the Five Year Facility Plan Tabulation of Priorities and the Resolution of the Oconee County Board of Education to be adopted by the Board on Monday (March 10).”

At 5 p.m. on March 6, Colquitt responded to my request of the previous afternoon:

“Good afternoon. This serves as confirmation of your request for information regarding the five-year plan under the Georgia Open Records Act and is in accordance with the three-day period of response pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(b)(2). With respect to your request, I will reach out to departments where responsive records may exist so that we can prepare search, retrieval, review, and production time/cost estimates. I anticipate having an update for you by Monday, March 10, 2025.”

I searched the Oconee County Schools web site for any reference to the “Facilities Survey Team” mentioned in the resolution the Board is being asked to approve on Monday (March 10). I also searched for “Facilities Survey.”

The search did not result in any relevant links.

I next searched, using both of these terms, the simbli site on which Board documents are stored. I received only one link: For the resolution before the Board on Monday.

NOTE: I received a response to my email request at 5:00 p.m. on March 10 and posted a story early in the morning on March 11 using that information. The five-year plan runs from 2024 through 2029, since the year of delay was incorporated into the five-year cycle. Nothing on the single sheet released to the public on March 3 indicated that. I changed the date in the third paragraph above to reflect that end date.