BOE sets two public hearings on consolidation plans

Two public hearings have been set by the Jackson County Board of Education on plans to relocate South Jackson Elementary School next year into the current Kings Bridge Middle School facility. The hearings are set for 5:30 p.m. on March 7 and March 11 in the gymnasium at Jackson County Comprehensive High School.

The public is invited to the hearings and to comment on the plan. A sign-in sheet will be available at the meetings, or one can sign up in advance by emailing the school at communityreply@jackson.k12.ga.us and specifying which date they would like to speak at.

Written comments can also be submitted to the same email address.

The public hearings are required under state law before a system can close a school facility.

The move to relocate SJES into the current KBMS facility is part of a bigger plan the system has to make better use of its school buildings and to cut costs. The plan calls for 6th and 7th Grade students at KBMS to be relocated into East Jackson Middle School and for 8th Graders from both middle schools to be relocated into a wing of East Jackson Comprehensive High School.

The plan also calls for a wing to be added onto West Jackson Intermediate School so that 6th Graders at West Jackson Middle School can be relocated to relieve overcrowding at WJMS.

Leaders also expect to close down the Gordon Street Center facility and combine those functions at JCCHS and EJCHS.
The system faces a serious imbalance in facility use in the county with the West side being overcrowded because of growth and the East side having a number of empty classrooms due to new school buildings built in the last decade.