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.
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.
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration on Tuesday turned down the Application Petition of a group of Bishop residents that would have been the first step in initiating a recall election for the mayor and three members of the Bishop Council.
The Elections Board took that action after reviewing the application documents submitted the day earlier and determining that Greg Montgomery, designated as the Petition Chairperson on the four Recall Application Petitions, is not a registered voter in Bishop or in Oconee County and had not actually signed the petitions.
Oconee County commissioners, in quick succession on Tuesday night, approved rezone plans for a car wash and oil change shop at Epps Bridge Centre II, for a small office complex just north of Watkinsville, and for a hotel on Parkway Boulevard near Epps Bridge Centre.
No one other than the applicants or their representatives spoke in favor of any of the three rezone requests, and no one spoke in opposition. With almost no discussion, the commissioners approved all three unanimously.
Only a little more than a month after approval of an agreement setting up a School Resource Officer (SRO) program for Oconee County Schools, officers have been assigned to five of the system’s 12 schools.
Kevin Yancey, Director of Student Services at Oconee County Schools, told the Oconee County Board of Education at its work session on Monday (March 3) that, as of that day, the third officer had been assigned to the system’s three middle schools.
Nearly 1,000 students who live in Oconee County were attending private schools last October, up by 85 students from October of 2023.
The largest number of those Oconee County students in private schools in October were attending Prince Avenue Christian School, Athens Academy, and Westminster Christian Academy.
Oconee County Superior Court Judge Eric Norris last month issued orders condemning two pieces of property owned by Deferred Tax LLC that are needed by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) for construction of the interchanges of Virgil Langford Road and the Oconee Connector at SR 316.
Norris also granted GDOT additional easements and access rights needed during the construction of the two interchanges.
