Many students have recently noticed their cars being displaced throughout the parking lot. Other people have also been displaced themselves, the previous students taking their parking spots due to construction next to the weight room outside of the gym. A few have gotten a bit worried about their own parking spaces being taken and chaos around the student parking lot.
However, according to Mr .McGarr, only a total of 12 students are displaced due to direct construction. Surveys have been conducted and at any point, there are 20-35 open parking spots that students who have been displaced can park.
“There are far more empty spaces than there are people in the parking lots. You just have to be here early enough to find them.” Mr. McGarr states.
The project that is being worked on right now is an extension of the awning to the weight room and attachment to the gym. This is all a part of the SPLOST program which is the Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax which for every dollar someone spends, a penny goes towards the program. They work to give schools money for improvements as well as there is a new initiative for there to be a similar city-based program that would provide Columbus with improved garbage trucks, ambulances, police vehicles, as well as other service vehicles. This is also the same program that built Rainey McCullers School of the Arts in 2017.
Over 5 million dollars has been given to Columbus High School alone in preparation for future projects regarding the school infrastructure and safety precautions. A few of those will be redoing the front steps, pressure washing the whole building, security fencing, as well as replacing the front doors with better security doors. These things, however, will not happen overnight and are planned to happen over the next 7-10 years.
Mr. McGarr comments that “It is really just old building stuff that we are trying to get renovated and make the school a safer and nicer place for students.”