Tonight the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors and the Pulaski County School Board will meet to discuss a host of important issues around both the new middle school as well other school related expenses. (Find the Agenda here.) I should note that the meeting will be at the IT Training Room at 89 Commerce Street S.W. (Maple Shade Plaza), not the County Administration Building.

People on both sides of the middle school issue brought up how disappointed they were with the state of the schools, along with the lack of adequate investment in their upkeep.  On numerous occasions Mr. McCready stated that all buildings in the county should received an “uplift” at least every 25 years.  As some of our current schools (Critzer, Dublin, Snowville, PCHS) are well over 25 years old and others soon will be (Pulaski Elementary and eventually Riverlawn) it means that we should all be focused on this issue.  The School Board appears to have heard your complaints, as they have designated 10 high priority Capital Improvement Needs that run the gamut from new boilers at PCHS (for $975,000) to new flooring at PES (for $24,000).  The issue now is how much and when the Board of Supervisors will provide funding for those projects.

Whether you voted yes or no on the PCMS referendum, the only way to prevent our current schools from falling into the disrepair of the old middle schools is by investing every year in our buildings’ roofs, doors, electrical, and heating systems.  I hope to see many of you there, but if not, I plan to share some insights from the meeting in the near future.  Follow along on Twitter at @peaksknob or on Facebook for updates from the meeting.