School Board Needs Your Input On New Schools For The Westside

By Kathy Moore

Monday night at the Crossroads Parkway Savannah Tech campus in Pooler, Superintendent Dr. Lockamy, along with other School Board members laid out to those in attendance, the location of the new school to be built to alleviate the over crowding issue.
If you missed the meeting, you still have a chance to voice your opinion about any issues you may have. Dr. Lockamy specifically expressed his desire to hear what you have to say before he makes his recommendations to the board on the 15th. “It’s your school for your children and I need your input,” he said.
The new school, to be completed in the Fall of 2010, will be located on Spring Lake Drive and Benton Boulevard near the Highlands development at Godley Station. Dr. Lockamy said it takes 18 months to build a new school. The Spring Lake Subdivision’s sign even touts “new schools coming.”
The major issue discussed was whether to build two separate schools, an Elementary and Middle School, or rather to just have one school housing the elementary portion on the bottom and the Middle School on the top. This is called a K-8 school (Kindergarten through 8th grade).
There was some discussion about this idea but not as much as the discourse that took place at the start of the meeting when many from the Port Wentworth community spoke out about their school over crowding issues. Since there is a 5-year window, Dr. Lockamy explained, on E-splost funds from the time it is voted on, there are no plans to build a new school for Port Wentworth at this time.
Other ways to build a school without E-splost funds were discussed and that there would be a county-community forum about this issue later. 7th District Board member Julie Gerbsch said, “Voters passed the E-splost back in 2006 to have this school built in Godley Station,” indicating that these things take time.
There were other questions regarding Pooler Elementary. Dr. Lockamy said there were no plans for Pooler Elementary but that he would take into account any concerns brought out.
This public forum was a great way to get the community’s input on the best course of action to take on alleviating the over crowding in the schools. Julie Gerbsch said, “we plan to do a lot more of these town hall type meetings and I hope we can get the word out there to everyone to please call the board with your opinion before the board makes a decision on the 15th.”
Dr. Joe Buck, President of the Board’s phone number is 912-201-7606 and his email is buckjoe1@comcast.net. You can contact him or write an email with your concerns to any of the board members and Dr. Lockamy. All of their information is available on the site at www.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/School+Board/.