Refurbished Braggs school ready

BRAGGS School starts Monday with new roofing and windows six months after Braggs voters agreed to fund them.

Braggs Superintendent Mike Broyles said roof replacement over the main classroom buildings was completed July 12 and the new steel frame windows and Corian window panes were installed Aug. 1. The roof over the main gym also was repaired over the summer, he said.

The windows and roofing were part of a $635,000 bond issue Braggs voters approved Feb. 12. The bond issue also included replacing roofs over the cafeteria and some adjoining classrooms, but those roofs are to be replaced over Christmas break or next summer, Broyles said.

Broyles said he had been optimistic about finishing most of the projects before the 2013 school year started, but he wanted to be sure.

Thats why we pushed the start of school back two weeks, he said, explaining that the Board of Education voted in April to start school Aug. 19 instead of Aug. 7.

Preparation before the bond issue also helped.

We had already talked about how the project was supposed to look like, Broyles said. We were able to start the project May 28. We had our specs ready for the roofing and our specs ready for the windows.

The only delay has been getting window blinds delivered, he said.

The schools main building dates to 1939 and had not been renovated since the 1970s. The previous classroom windows were single pane, providing little insulation.

In the summer time, it was so hot in here, you couldnt stand it, said school secretary Sue Berryhill. The old windows were really cold in the winter time, you could feel winter coming through them.

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Refurbished Braggs school ready