CCHS auditorium bids over budget
Mar. 23—The bids are in for two long-awaited construction projects for the Cumberland County School System: an auditorium at Cumberland County High School and an addition at South Cumberland Elementary.
But bids for the auditorium came in nearly $1 million more than the budgeted amount, and the South Cumberland addition bids were over by about $200,000.
Bids for the auditorium were opened March 15 at 2 p.m. at the Cumberland County Courthouse. Four companies submitted bids ranging from $10.8 million to $12.4 million.
The project includes alternate additions of an upgraded wall tile and adding renovation of the school's tennis courts. These projects ranged from an additional $30,000-$48,000 for wall tile to $311,000-$598,000 for the tennis court project.
The school system had budgeted $9.2 million for the auditorium.
The auditorium is modeled after the Stone Memorial High School's auditorium, with seating for 1,182, a lobby, ticket booth, concessions, restrooms, dressing rooms and storage space.
The bids for the South Cumberland classroom addition came in at $2.21 million to $2.453 million, with bid alternates to finish the kitchen floor ranging from an additional $32,500 to $66,000.
Bids are currently under review by Upland Design Group, who will recommend the lowest and best bid for the projects.
There were five bids received ahead of the March 22 bid opening.
The project includes building six new classrooms to eliminate the need for portable classrooms. There are to be four new classrooms on the upper-grade wing and two in the lower-grade wing of the school.
The Cumberland County Board of Education budgeted $2 million for the project.
Both projects are being paid for with federal COVID-19 relief funds through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER. The third round of the federal relief program brought $15 million to the school system. A portion of the funds went toward paying a learning loss coordinator for the school system, learning loss interventionists in each school and for other learning loss programs and supplies.
The building and grounds committee of the Cumberland County Board of Education is scheduled to meet March 31 at 4 p.m. at Central Services, 368 Fourth St., to discuss the bids and make a recommendation to the full board. A special-called meeting of the board to address the bids has not yet been scheduled but is expected the following week.
The auditorium at CCHS had been part of the original building plans for CCHS in 1962. It was cut, however, when the project came in over budget. Despite several attempts through the years, the auditorium had never been built.
THP to hold
sobriety checks
The Tennessee Highway Patrol will conduct sobriety roadside safety checkpoints March 26-31 on Hwy. 70 W. at Browntown Road.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol recognizes that sobriety checkpoints are highly visible and effective tools in the battle against impaired driving.
Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.
