RISON - The Cleveland County School Board voted Monday night during its regular monthly meeting to begin the process of hiring a construction manager to oversee the construction of the new gym at the Rison School campus.Superintendent Davy King said architect Steve Elliott will put together the packets that will go out to prospective construction managers providing them with the requirements and plans for the project. He said the district will advertise for the position about three weeks.Once the advertising period is over, King said the board will then determine a group of finalists from the pool of candidates, and then interview those finalists. He said it will take about a month before the board will be at that point.Last October, voters in the Cleveland County School District approved a 6-mill tax increase that will generate about $12 million in construction funds for the new gym. The new structure is expected to seat between 1,200 and 1,300 people, and will be built on the student parking lot between the existing gym and the Pride field house.The school district will be using more than $2.7 million in state partnership money to help pay for the project. King said in a previous interview that he would like to see construction begin this summer, though no definitive timeline has been set.School CalendarThe school board also approved the 2026-27 school calendar during Monday night’s meeting.King said the new calendar is basically a mirror of this year’s calendar with the first day of school starting Aug. 12, 2026, and the final day being May 20, 2027. He said the school holidays will stay the same as they are this year.PersonnelAfter meeting in executive session for the superintendent’s evaluation, the school board voted to extend King’s contract by one year to include the 2028-29 school year. The January meeting is when school board’s typicall...
To access content, please login or purchase a subscription.