For the second time in less than a month, Cobb Board of Education chairman Scott Sweeney has scheduled a town hall meeting in his East Cobb district.
The next town hall will take place next Monday, Oct. 8, at Wheeler High School.
Sweeney said at Thursday's school board meeting that citizens may ask questions on any school-related topic, but expects the builk of the discussion to cover the proposed Cobb schools SPLOST IV project list.
Last week, Sweeney heard from Walton High School parents, who asked for more than the $9 million earmarked in SPLOST IV for gymnasium and theater improvements.
Some wanted a new fine arts facility to replace cramped and outmoded space for the Walton orchestra, band, drama and other arts programs.
Those calls were renewed again during Thursday's public comments period by Walton parents, especially about the gymnasium, which would be replaced entirely if SPLOST IV passes.
"The facilities are just in very poor shape," said Maurice Gibson, president of the Walton Raiders Basketball Tip-Off Club, citing dim lighting, "inadequate" seating and crowded space in the locker and weight rooms.
Wheeler is currently undergoing a $17 million reconstruction of the main school building, which was built when the school opened in 1965. SPLOST IV funding for Wheeler would include gymnasium and theater renovations.
Sweeney asked that time be placed on the board's Oct. 10 work session schedule for a "deep and thorough" discussion of the SPLOST IV "notebook," which he emphasized was a draft document subject to change.
The board is expected to vote in November whether to put the list of $717 million in capital improvements out to a referendum that tentatively would be held in March 2013.
