Bids open for new gym in Thomson

For Thomson High School physical education students and teachers, help is on the way.

Thomson High School recently requested bids for work to begin on its new physical education complex, which county school officials hope to have ready sometime during next school year. The addition is needed to due to a lack of space in the current gym.

The new facility will be "a building that's on the back of the school in the courtyard area," according to McDuffie County Schools Facilities Manager Dr. Jim Franklin. "It's going to have a practice gymnasium, and it's also going to be used for gym classes."

The facility will also have a weight room, one classroom, and office space.

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Franklin was hesitant to guess when the complex would be completed, but said he hopes for construction to wrap up sometime this fall. He added that construction could easily be pushed back to next spring because of uncontrollable factors such as weather.

While the construction bids will be evaluated in July, Franklin estimates that the facility could cost as much as $2.5 million to build. The money will be taken from the special purpose local option sales tax funds.

Although Thomson High School was built only 12 years ago, it has quickly outgrown its original facilities.

"One gym is hard to manage, so we really need that additional space for those kids who haven't taken physical education without distractions," said Franklin.

He also said that several classes are held in the gym at one time, and more often than not, they spill into one another due to lack of space, often causing disruption.

"We're in an eight block schedule which allows our kids to take more elective courses," said Principal Bill Reese. "We've got five PE teachers and could have more if we just had more room to put the kids and the teachers."