Guilford County Orders Study On School Facilities, Technology

Guilford County wants to find out more about the state of its school facilities. A new study will also include a look at how school boundary lines are drawn.

It will survey demographics and growth trends across the district. Guilford County School officials say some classrooms are too crowded, while others have a few empty seats. Consultants will also collect information about the number of classrooms and where they are located.

Scott McCully, the chief operations officer for GCS, says a bulk of the study will focus on facility improvements and technology needs.

“Our buildings are getting older. The average age is just over 50 years and I think this last cold snap really illustrated the need for us to have high functioning facilities, but also determining at what point should we start replacing those,” says McCully.

A Florida-based firm known as MGT Consulting Group will conduct the study at a cost of nearly $900,000.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners will discuss providing half of that money during Monday evening's meeting.

McCully says the study will take six months to complete. Based on the findings, a long-range master plan will be created. He says the district will work with the county to find the best way to pay for the improvements.

“It's too early to tell if a bond issue would be an appropriate funding mechanism,” he says. “But based off of what we anticipate the need to be in our schools certainly with safety, security and technology as well as the facility, I think it's likely there will be a future bond referendum. But we are a ways from determining exactly what that might look like as well as the amount.”

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