Cullman County School Board Superintendent Shane Barnette honors the Holly Pond High School Key Club.

Cold Springs High School students can look forward to the addition of a new gymnasium after Thursday night’s Cullman County Commission on Education meeting.

Highlighting several completed projects at schools across the system, Superintendent Shane Barnette announced the approval of a bid to begin construction of new facility at CSHS.

The $5,899,029 bid was awarded to Nearen Construction.

“We are extremely happy that this not only came in under our projected cost for the project, but also went to a local company that we have seen really great work from in the past,” Barnette said.

Construction is slated for an April start date.

The board also approved a request for new English textbooks for grades 6-12. While acknowledging the need at the elementary level, Barnette explained that under the Governor Kay Ivey’s taskforce regarding textbook only one publisher met the requirements. The board will wait for more publishers to be added to that list before moving forward.

In other business the board:

Honored the Holly Pond Key Club for their accomplishments of attending the State Convention.

Presented Annie Veal and Sherry Blackwood with the Boards Exceptional Service Award.

Discussed the rising cost of fuel which have added an estimated $10,000 to the board’s monthly fuel costs, but emphasized that no field trips will be cancelled at this time.

Approved Jeffrey Greer and Patricia Marie Johnson as personnel for the 2021-2022 after hours program.

Approved a request to offer districtwide summer school for credit recovery to be held at Hanceville High School and Good Hope High School.

Approved a request to offer a summer drivers education course to be offered at Good Hope, Vinemont, Holly Pond and West Point high schools.

Approved the the summer school personnel for grades 6-12.

Approved a Summer Learning/Reading Camp for grades K-5 on June 7-12 to be paid by ESSER funds.

Approved a request for Hanceville High School to sell a 1998 Kubota Tractor 4×4 diesel.