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Tharptown to get new cafeteria, four classrooms

It took two meetings, but Tharptown School will have a new cafeteria after the Franklin County Board of Education voted 4-0 to leverage $175,000 of its capital monies received by the State of Alabama.

The action was taken at a special-called board meeting held Wednesday afternoon in the Tharptown School Cafeteria.

Board member Mike Shewbart abstained from the vote, while Ralton Baker, Shannon Oliver, Pat Cochran and Terry Welborn voted in favor of the motion.

The action was taken to address overcrowding issues at Tharptown. Plans call for a new cafeteria that will seat up to 350 students. The school's existing cafeteria will be converted into four elementary school classrooms.

The project is expected to cost approximately $2.5 million. The $175,000 leverage translates to $2.6 million in funding now available for the project. For each $1,000 of capital monies leveraged, a school system receives $15,000 for that $1,000. Monies will be paid back when the State of Alabama, rather than sending those capital funds to Franklin County Schools, will pay back the company leveraging the money for a 20-year term.

The same item was on the agenda at Tuesday's board meeting. Only three board members attended, including Shewbart, Oliver and Baker. Three affirmative votes were required to approve the measure, but Shewbart voted against it citing concerns about not having been provided with attendance numbers and not having seen plans for the project. He wanted to personally inspect the school and did so Wednesday for nearly three hours.

During the work session that preceded Wednesday's meeting, Shewbart repeated some of those same concerns.

I still have not seen attendance records other than what you just heard (from Superintendent Gary Williams). I'm trying to make sure we don't have to come back next year and do more,” Shewbart said. “Are there any projected numbers on how long it will be before we have to revisit this based on attendance numbers? How big will this cafeteria be and how long until we have to visit expansion of the lunchroom again?,” Shewbart queried.

Williams said the new cafeteria would seat 350 students and the system would work with architects to make sure design meets the school's needs.

Tharptown students from both Tharptown Elementary and Tharptown High Schools share the current lunchroom, which has a capacity of 235 students. A portable mobile unit is also being used as a lunchroom.

The school has five such portable units on campus this year. Tharptown's cafeteria staff begins serving lunch at 9:55 a.m., and the last group of students are fed at 1 p.m., officials said. The dish room is being used as a storage room so students and faculty are using disposable plates and silverware for all meals.

Tharptown Elementary School has an enrollment of 523 students and the high school has another 332. TES is Franklin County's largest elementary school. TES' enrollment increased 90 students this year, due in large part to the $600 annual tuition imposed by Russellville City Schools on out-of-city students. THS enrollment increased by 22 students.

Williams said plans for the new cafeteria are already in place with officials from the Alabama Department of Education.

This will address our immediate needs. This cafeteria is too small to meet the needs of our children and cafeteria workers,” Williams said. “We'll renovate this building into four classrooms and build a new cafeteria. I know there are other problems from overcrowding at Tharptown but this will help with our immediate needs.”

Several teachers and parents addressed board members with concerns that building a new cafeteria isn't enough to adequately address the school's overcrowding.

There's all this talk about these new students, but before we got the Russellville kids we didn't have any more room then,” Melanie Vandiver said. “Our kids don't have enough books. If there's a storm, they have to walk in the rain to eat. If this is our chance to spend, we need to accommodate the kids we already have.”

This year's senior class at Tharptown has 35 students, compared to 84 in this fall's kindergarten class.

Before the vote, Shewbart, who serves as board president, said the board can only act with a recommendation from the superintendent.

This board cannot act without a recommendation and this is the only one we have before us,” Shewbart said. “The motion carries and you will get a new lunchroom at Tharptown,” he added as many of the 150 in attendance broke into applause.

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