Tharptown construction is complete

By Staff
Melissa Cason, Franklin County Times
THARPTOWN-After three years of planning and construction, Tharptown's new high school facility and gym are now finished with only a few minor details left to complete.
Assistant Superintendent Gary Williams said that the final inspections are complete, and there are a few items on the punch list left to do, which is not unusual for new constructions.
"The building is ready to go," Williams said. "All we need is furniture, and the computers and telephones hooked up."
The new building has 12 classrooms, a science lab, and administration offices.
In addition to the new high school building, the Tharptown campus has a new gym, and athletic fields. The grass on the football field has been some concern because of the lack of rain, but the football field was sodden last week when the rains set in, Williams said.
"We were a little concerned about the football field, but now it should be ready to go by the time for the first game," Williams said.
He added that the football team has a practice field so they have had a place to practice for some time.
"It was a priority for us to give them [the football team] somewhere to practice," Williams said.
The bleachers and the press box will be added to the field before the beginning of the first game. The board also hopes to add a track around the field as well.
Since changing to a high school last year, Tharptown has seen an increase in enrollment. The school saw an increase of 70 students last year, and they expect to have an increase of 40 to 50 students this year as well.
"Most of last year's increase were returning students going into the tenth grade," Williams said. "But, our new student numbers did go up as well."
Tharptown High School expects to hold their graduation exercises for the Class of 2009, which are this year's juniors.