The Hart County Charter System is purchasing 67.82 acres on Bowman Highway for “future growth,” according to superintendent Jay Floyd.
In a called meeting on June 27, the Hart County Board of Education approved entering into contract between G.F. Parker Inc. and the Hart County Charter System to purchase parcels C59A019 and C59A020-003.
The land is located near the street address of 3166 Bowman Highway. It sits approximately three miles from Howell Street in downtown Hartwell and one mile from South Hart Elementary in the opposite direction.
Floyd said the land is not set for a designated purpose, but can be used as needed in the future.
“Regardless of what direction it is whether it’s another school, whether it’s transportation, whether it’s maintenance,” Floyd said. “We had no property and this property came available. The board was interested in it. The worse case scenario that you can get in is if you end up having substantial growth, which we are getting closer on a lot of our schools. It gives the board options down the road for future growth.”
At the last regular board meeting on June 20, departing superintendent Floyd made the recommendation to build a new middle school and turn the current middle school into an “intermediate” school for grades four and five.
“If they end up doing the intermediate school than that takes care of size issues at four different schools so that’s the most responsible way to do it,” Floyd said.
The 67.82 acres would be more than enough for a new school. In comparison, South Hart Elementary is on a 29.42 acre parcel of land and the three parcels that include Hart County High School, Middle School and all the athletic facilities totals approximately 51.69 acres.