Phenix City opens $4 million Central expansion

Phenix City’s Central High School expansion is open for business.

School district leaders, faculty and students gathered Tuesday on the artificial turf in the $4 million, 34,000-square-foot building off Dobbs Drive for an official ribbon-cutting ceremony, after which visitors toured the facility.

Along with two classrooms that each have 77 desks, it includes 155 varsity football lockers, 15 coaches’ offices and 16 stations for weight training with 5.5 tons of weights.

The building behind the Central Freshman Academy also has batting cages, Olympic mats and meeting and storage rooms.

The construction was funded through a bond issue, but Superintendent Randy Wilkes also thanked private donors who through “Friends of Phenix City Schools” so far have contributed more than $870,000 for equipment and other amenities.

“Later this month, perhaps the 1st of February, we will announce two more large donations,” Wilkes told those attending Tuesday’s grand opening.

The district has plans for other new facilities, Wilkes said after the ceremony.

“We’ve got a couple of things that we’re looking at. Probably one of our first projects will be a bus barn,” he said. “We’ve got some preliminary plans that we’ve drawn. We’re looking at expanding our fine arts program, so there’s a facility and some renovations for that as well.”

A gym for an elementary school also is under consideration, he said.

The district’s enrollment recently has increased, but now may be leveling off, he said.

“There was a huge jump when Fort Benning began to grow, from about 5,500 up to 6,500, and there’s just been gradual growth ever since,” Wilkes said. “I think there’s potential that we’re leveling out. I’ve seen the number 6,800 to 7,000 the last three years, up and down a little bit.”

The superintendent last week said more than 2,400 students are to attend the Central Freshman Academy and Central High School in the next decade, though the facilities together were designed to accommodate fewer than 2,000.

The athletic facilities have been overwhelmed, as they were intended to accommodate fewer than 600 students, but now serve more than 1,000, he said.

The district also has used a $10 million bond issue to pay for an addition at Sherwood school, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) center, and other expansions or upgrades, Wilkes said, noting that with private donations, the $10 million in bonds likely has funded up to $15 million in projects.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Phenix City opens $4 million Central expansion."