Process Begins for New School at Menlo

The Chattooga Board of Education has voted to move forward with plans to construct a new school in Menlo. The first step in the process of a new school for Menlo was to decommission the current school. Decommission of the current facility will start the preliminary process to construct a new Menlo school.

The Chattooga County Board of Education voted 4-1 to proceed with the plans to decommission the current school facility in Menlo. Board Members Eddie Elsberry, Lyn Hall, B.J. Montgomery and Brad Hayes voted in favor of the measure. Dr. Julia Houston, who had previously vocalized her opposition to a new school for Menlo, voted against the motion made to decommission the current facility.

Board Chairman Eddie Elsberry explained, “the process of replacing an existing school with a new school starts with the decommissioning of the old school. It is common for all systems to do this and the process we have done in past with the high school and North Summerville Elementary School, Pennville School, and Summerville Elementary School. This is then filed at the state DOE and we end the state facility funding for the current Menlo school building. That then allows us to switch over and earn funding at a higher rate towards a new school. The state has estimated we can earn somewhere around $3 million plus if e-file before the July 1 deadline, which will apply to the new school. If we do not decommission before July 1 it would be 2022 before we could decommission. Delaying another year would cause us to not receive the 21-22 money that will apply to new construction and thus offsetting the cost of the project. This is the most cost effective way to go.”