Oconee County School Board of Trustees Monthly Meeting Tonight; Possible Approval for Site for New Seneca Middle School

The School District of Oconee County Board of Trustees will be holding their monthly meeting tonight at 6pm in the School Board Conference Room in Walhalla. Among the action items on the agenda will be the FY ’19 General Fund Budget Revision Approval plus the purchase approval for a site for a new Seneca Middle School pending approval from the School Board. According to information released by the School District, the property under consideration is located at the intersection of Wells Highway at Garrison Road. 

In regard to the new Seneca Middle School, Steve Hanvey from the School District says that there were six potential sites with the needed acreage and then the list was narrowed down to three main sites with a minimum of 35 to 40 acres to build the new school on. 

After negotiations with the owners of all three property sites, a decision was made on the property selected which was shared with the School Board of Trustees last week in executive session, according to Hanvey. 

Hanvey says it will be several years, maybe as far out as 2023, before the school is completed due to funding as right now a majority of the capital improvement funding is going towards the new Hamilton Career Center. Hanvey says in the current building cycle, with the size of the school that is anticipated being built, current costs for building the new Seneca Middle School could be in the neighborhood of $40 to $45 million dollars.