Oconee County Schools administrators on Monday released master site plans for expansion of the sports facilities at both of the system’s high schools as the beginning phase of spending under the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) referendum approved by voters last year.
Included are a new auxiliary gym at North Oconee High School, a new covered walkway connecting the auxiliary gym to the existing gym, and potentially an “athletic walkway” to connect the stadium, baseball, and soccer complexes.
At Oconee County High School, plans are to extend an existing practice field to full length, improve Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility for the stadium, and complete the athletics walkway to connect facilities.
Improvements at Oconee High School also include renovation to the existing press box at the stadium, constructing new sports team changing rooms, conversion of an existing field into a competition-ready athletic field, adding a fourth athletic field, and making improvements to the existing auxiliary gym at the high school.
The public will get a chance to comment on these plans at open house events from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 7 at Oconee County High School and from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 8 at North Oconee High School. Both events will be in the school cafeteria.
Superintendent Melissa Butler said these and other planned ESPLOST projects will be undertaken as revenues become available and that the Board does not plan to issue additional bonds to finance the spending.
Also at the Board meeting on Monday, Jennifer Whitaker, Chief Academic Officer at Oconee County Schools, said current plans are to apply for state funding for two to four Pre-K classrooms for next school year.
Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams reported he expects the system to be able to continue to receive sales tax revenue from the current ESPLOST until the end of the year even though the voter-approved cap will be reached well before then.
Superintendent Report
Superintendent Butler initiated the discussion of ESPLOST in her report to the Board on Monday (Nov. 9) before other administrators gave their monthly updates.
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| Butler 11/9/2026 |
"We are excited to begin moving forward with our ESPLOST VII projects, which were approved by Oconee County voters last fall,” she said. “Among those projects are some significant improvements planned for both of our high schools that represent an important investment in our students and the future of our schools.”
Butler said that Chief Operations Officer Ryan White would present plans for the high schools later in the meeting “so our community can see the overall vision for both campuses and the opportunities these improvements will provide for our students as well as the many rec teams who use our facilities on a weekly basis.”
She said the planned open house events “will give stakeholders an opportunity to learn more about the plans and ask questions.”
“I do want to emphasize that these high school improvements are just one part of ESPLOST VII,” she added. “Over the next five years, we'll be moving forward with other projects shared during last fall's ESPLOST presentations, which were developed with input and feedback from all of our community stakeholders.”
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| Oconee County High School Plans (Click To Enlarge) |
“These include facility upgrades at some of our elementary schools along with important technology and equipment upgrades throughout the district,” she continued.
“As we move forward, I do want to reiterate the Board's commitment to completing these voter approved projects without issuing bonds or taking on future debt,” she said. “To accomplish this, all projects will be completed in phases as funds become available.”
“Ultimately, our focus is on providing students throughout our district with the facilities and resources they need to learn, grow, and succeed,” she said in concluding her comments on ESPLOST. “We are excited about what these investments will mean for our students both now and in the years to come.”
White’s Report
White, in his report to the Board, said the existing practice fields at North Oconee High School “will be relocated slightly with necessary site work completed to ensure appropriate playing surfaces.”
The proposed “athletics walkway” is being considered “an alternative, allowing us to evaluate its cost and consider it as part of future improvements and planning,” White said.
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| White 11/9/2026 |
In reviewing the plans for Oconee County High School, White told the Board to “Please keep in mind that this plan includes both the ESPLOST VII projects and potential future improvements with the goal of providing equity in athletic facilities between our two high school campuses.”
Proposed for Oconee County High School is conversion of the existing field adjacent to student parking “into a competition read athletic field,” White said, with “proper field grading and crowning, spectator seating, fencing, and a scoreboard.”
In discussing the changes to the existing auxiliary gym at Oconee County High School, White said “we plan to extend the rear of the building to accommodate a competition cheer space, update and expand the wrestling room, and add a dance room. These spaces will bring the practice space in line with the facilities in North County High School.”
White presented the plans only on the screen at the meeting on Monday, but Callen Moore, Executive Director of Communications for Oconee County Schools, on Thursday (Nov. 12), released the schematics White had used in his presentation.
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| North Oconee High School Plans (Click To Enlarge) |
Those plans show a relocation of the shot put and discus landing sector at North Oconee High School one of the practice fields labeled “new natural grass practice field,” and another labeled “improved natural grass practice field.”
At Oconee County High School, the stadium is designed for “turf replacement,” one of the fields is designated as “natural grass soccer field (with scoreboard),” and two are marked as “natural grass multi-purpose field.”
The shot put and discus landing sector also is marked a “relocated.”
“I know I hear a lot of feedback and questions and rumors and all sorts of things both from people that attend North and then also who have people at Oconee High School,” Board Member Ryan Hammock told White. “So very glad to see this out there.”
“I think the effort for parity at the two schools is very clear,” Board Member Adam Hammond said. “I think the community buys that.”
Pre-K Update
Chief Academic Officer Whitaker offered an update on plans for the district to apply for state authorization and funding to operate a Pre-K program beginning next year.
Whitaker said that the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) “has identified a need for additional Pre-K opportunities in our community and has encouraged us to move forward with our application.”
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| Whitaker 11/9/2026 |
Since releasing a community interest survey last month, Whitaker said, “we have received 279 responses with 213 responses indicating a child's birth date that would make the child eligible for Pre-K in the fall of 2027.
Whitaker said a review of preschool enrollment information from the current kindergarten students in Oconee County Schools showed that 49 percent attended a state approved and funded Georgia Pre-K program currently operating in Oconee County.
“At this time, we anticipate requesting two to four Georgia Pre-K classrooms for the upcoming school year,” Whitaker said. “The locations of these classrooms have not yet been determined as we are in the early phases of planning,” she said.
Whitaker said that DECAL “ultimately determines the number of additional classrooms that can be supported within a community, taking into consideration existing Georgia Pre-K providers.”
“I look forward to sharing additional information as our plans develop and more details become available,” she told the Board.
Financial Reports
Chief Financial Officer Adams reported to the Board that the current General Fund Balance was $49.9 million at the end of October, down from $54.4 million on Sept. 30 but up from $48.7 million at the end of October in 2025.
The ESPLOST Fund Balance at the end of October was $15.2 million, up from $14.4 million at the end of September and down from $15.4 in that account a year ago.
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| 11/9/2026 |
“Revenue for ad valorem tax collections will start to reflect in next month's report,” Adams told the Board, “as tax bills will be due.” The bills are due on Nov. 15.
Adams reported that ESPLOST revenue received in October, for September collections, was up 8.8 percent from that same month last year, the largest same month increase since August of 2025 (for July collections), when the gain was 9.7 percent.
As of the end of October, Oconee County School has collected $48.2 million in ESPLOST 6 revenue, with the cap of $48.5 million. Adams will report November receipts at the Board’s December meeting.
In response to a question from Board Member Hammock on that cap, Adams said “the way our understanding is is as it's done quarterly, we'll be in the quarter. So, those funds we get will actually continue to stay on the current ESPLOST.”
“The next ESPLOST will start in January when that next quarter starts,” he continued. “So that would be January of 2027.”
Other Action
After returning from a brief executive session on Monday, the Board approved the “separation” of Charles “Curt” Miller as assistant principal of Oconee County High School effective Feb. 1 of next year.
“The separation listed in Monday’s personnel report reflects Dr. Curt Miller’s retirement from Oconee County High School, effective Feb. 1, 2027,” Superintendent Butler said in statement provided on Thursday by Moore. “We appreciate his service to OCHS and wish him well in retirement.”
At the beginning of the meeting on Monday, the Board recognized the 2026 Hall of Fame Inductee, Wilhelmina Bowles.
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| Bowles With Butler (Left) Board Chair Michael Ransom (Right) 11/9/2026 |
“First, I'd like to say good evening,” Bowles said when given a microphone. “Thank God for this moment.”
“I was at Oconee County High School from 1967 until 1995,” she said. “But I came to Watkinsville, Georgia, to teach at a little school called E.D. Stroud. And I want to acknowledge my E.D. Stroud family that's here.”
E.D. Stroud was a segregated Black school on the site of what is now Colham Ferry Elementary School.
Bowles, a native of Birmingham, Ala., told Oconee County Democrats, in a history session in 2023, that she came to Oconee County in 1964 after attending Miles College in a suburb of Birmingham.
“I was always proud of how Oconee County worked with merging the students together,” she said of school integration in 1967. “We did it peacefully. We did it in love and in joy. We worked together which was so very, very important.”
“So I want my E.D. Stroud family to know that I remember how nice you treated me and your parents,” she said. “Those were parents that were involved also.”
When she moved to Oconee County High School in 1967, she said, the administration was “super for a young teacher coming in and for everybody and those of us who came from E.D. Stroud over to Oconee County County High School, and it was great.”
Bowles was surrounded by family and community members at the recognition on Monday.
Video
The video below is on the Oconee County Schools YouTube Channel.
I attended the meeting and recorded my own video as a backup and shot still images, which are used in the post above.
Bowles is recognized beginning at 5:14 in the video.
Superintendent Butler discussed ESPLOST beginning at 31:34 in the video.
Adams began his financial report at 49:33 in the video.
White began his discussion of plans for the two high schools at 54:09 in the video.
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