Oconee County School Board Evaluating Offer For Unused Acreage On U.S. 441 North Of Bishop

***Board Received Unsolicited Inquiry About Availability Of Property***

An unidentified interested party has approached the Oconee County Board of Education about the possibility of purchasing 42.7 acres on U.S. 41 north of Bishop that the School Board has owned since 2007 but has never utilized.

The Board spent an hour and 45 minutes in executive session after its regular meeting on Monday (March 2) discussing the possible sale of the property as well as the Personnel Report from Superintendent Melissa Butler.

The Board approved Butler’s Personnel Report when it returned to open session on Monday evening but gave no indication that it had discussed sale of the acreage on U.S. 441.

School Board Chair Michael Ransom confirmed on Tuesday evening that the Board had discussed the inquiry regarding the property and said that the Board will review the offer and decide if it wants “to move forward with a sale.”

Ransom didn’t give any time line for the decision.

The Board is scheduled to hold its regular meeting beginning at 6 p.m. tomorrow (March 9) in the Board Room of the Instructional Support Center, 71 North Main Street in Watkinsville.

At the meeting on Monday, the Board received the recommendation of Superintendent Butler that the Board approve at tomorrow's meeting spending $27,891 for paving of a track at Malcom Bridge Middle School and $84,182 for radio enhancements at High Shoals Elementary School.

Fred Ricketson, Director of Facilities, told the Board on Monday that discussions are underway with the architect for the auxiliary gym at North Oconee High School that was listed as a project to be funded by the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) voters approved in November.

Executive Session

As the Board was about to vote to go into executive session after its work session on Monday “to discuss personnel,” Superintendent Butler turned to Ransom and said the Board also needed to discuss real estate matters.

Butler 3/2/2026

Personnel, real estate, and legal issues are three topics the Board is allowed to, but not required to, discuss in a session closed to the public.

When the Board returned to open session an hour and 45 minutes later on Monday, it approved the March Personnel Report from Butler and then voted to adjourn without further discussion.

I sent Ransom an email message about an hour after the meeting asking if he could “provide some broad explanation of what real estate matters you discussed tonight?”

Ransom responded early Tuesday morning saying “we added Real Estate to the executive session in order to discuss an offer that was submitted to OCS to purchase system owned property.”

“We do not currently have any property listed for sale,” he wrote, “However, from time to time, we receive unsolicited offers to purchase portions of system property.”

“We also discussed personnel in more detail,” his email continued, “as we start to get into the season of retirements and contract renewal processing.”

“Thank you for your question,” Ransom wrote.

Second Email And Response

On Tuesday evening, I sent Ransom another email saying “I learned today that you were approached about the sale of 42.7 acres on U.S. 441 north of Bishop that OCS bought in 2007 from Charles Holcomb.”

Ransom 3/2/2026

“The seller, Charles Holcomb, now deceased, is a former sheriff in Oconee County,” I continued. “I also was told the plans when the property was purchased was to build a school on that property.”

“What is the Board's response to the inquiry by the prospective buyer?” I wrote.

Ransom responded an hour later saying “We will review the offer and compare it to recent real estate sales and listings. If we determine that the offer reflects fair market value, we will then decide whether to move forward with a sale or wait for another opportunity.”

“We do not have any current plans for the property at this time,” Ransom continued. “Given the layout of the parcel and its location, particularly the traffic along Highway 441, we do not believe it would be well suited for a school site.”

According to county tax records, the Board purchased the property in July of 2007 for $1.1 million.

The 42.7 acre parcel has frontage on U.S. 441 and on Union Church Road and is located north of the Golden Pantry Food Store and gas station. It is separated from Golden Pantry by two parcels owned by a Holcomb.

Current assessed value of the property is $1.5 million. At present, the acreage is wooded and is zoned AG (Agricultural).

Reports To Board And ESPLOST

Director of Facilities Ricketson, as part of his Facilities Report on Monday, told the Board that “We had a second meeting with the coaches and leadership team at North Oconee (High School) and they've met with Operations and the architect to continue the discussion of needs and goals for the project.”

Board After Executive Session 3/2/2026

“The architect is investigating possible design solutions to achieve those goals,” he said.

Building an auxiliary gym at North Oconee High School was one of six proposed projects at the school listed during the campaign for passage of the ESPLOST VII leading up to its approval by voters in November.

Collection of ESPLOST VII does not start until the current ESPLOST VI expires, probably at the end of this calendar year.

At its meeting in February, the Board approved spending from the current ESPLOST VI for digital score boards at the system’s two high school stadiums, interactive panels for the elementary schools, and improvements to Oconee County Elementary School. These also were part of the project list for ESPLOST VII.

Other Staff Reports

Ricketson on Monday also told the Board the superintendent is recommending approval on Monday of $27,891 in spending for a paved walking track at Malcolm Bridge Elementary School.

Chief Operations Officer Ryan White told the Board that the Superintendent is recommending spending $84,182.82 with Graybar for Radio Enhancements at High Shoals Elementary School and $93,840 for disposal services with Roll Off Systems.

Tony McCullers, Chief Technology Officer, told the Board that the modification to its Internet Acceptable Use Policy to make it compliant with the Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act of 2024, tentatively approved by the Board in February, is now ready for final action on Monday.

The change added a section stating that Oconee County Schools policy includes a “Prohibitions against students accessing social media platforms through the use of computer equipment, communications services, or internet access that is operated, owned, leased, and made available to students by the School District.”

The Personnel Report approved by the Board on Monday included two new hires, two rehires, and 19 separations.

The only administrative change was for Andrea Pender, serving as Interim Chief of Special Education/Director of Secondary Education, who will leave the system on May 29.

Video

The video below is on the Oconee County Schools YouTube Channel.

Ricketson began his report at 12:57 in the video.

I also recorded the video as a backup, and the images above are frames from the video I shot.