Caledonia High will have a new gym in 2023

The gym at Caledonia High School is getting a face lift, a new design that is.

LOWNDES COUNTY,Miss. (WCBI)- A project is underway at Caledonia High School.

The Lowndes County School District is awarded a grant to help fund a new addition to the campus.

The gym at Caledonia High School is getting a face lift, a new design that is.

Lowndes County School District Superintendent Sam Allison said the district was approved for a millage grant.

” School districts are given three mills. Those mills are not apart of your regular budget. They have to be used for school improvements or school buses. We recently used some of that millage to buy new buses over the past two years,” said Elliott.

And get this the grant up for grabs is worth $520,000.

Allison said Caledonia’s campus gymnasium is in dire need of a new facility. Administrators are discussing features like bleachers on either side of the court.

” As a school district, we really don’t have the availability to save the amount of money it would cost to build a gym, that’s how we’re afforded those mills and we’re looking at all projects to make sure useful. There are going to be bigger projects. Projects where you don’t have the money in your district funds to do,” said Elliot.

” Our gym for a 4-A school is on the small side. It’s got outdated features to it. This is something that can be of use to all of our students,” said Principal Gregory Elliott.

Elliott said there’s a capacity of 500 people in the gym. Nearly 670 students are expected to be on campus in the 2022-2023 school year.

” We can’t really get our student body in here for an assembly or pep rally,” said Elliott.

“The biggest thing is they need a place they can meet with their kids.They need more gym space for their athletic programs,” said Allison.

“Our basketball boys and girls right now we have to split them up in different periods. A lot of school only have one block of athletics. We only have enough space in the gym to only do that for one team,” said Elliott.

Superintendent Allison said this is the first phase of the project.

The district will release construction information soon.