It's been a long wait for student athletes at Johnson High School in Oakwood, but come fall, they should have a new field house on campus.
The Hall County School Board on Monday night unanimously approved spending $4.9 million in SPLOST money for a brand new field house, along with upgrades to the JHS band room.
Matt Cox, the Executive Director of Facilities and Construction for the school system, said Johnson is the last high school in the county to get a new field house.
"It's a full replacement," Cox said. "We'll be taking down the old field house - built some time in the 70s - and replacing it with a new updated building that will be more appropriate."
Cox said now that the funding has received formal approval, crews will get to work quickly on the new facility.
"[The old field house] is already cleaned out and ready for demolition, so we should begin to see some things going in within the month," Cox said.
He said the new field house should be ready by the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.
Also included in the financial package is the cost of upgrades to Johnson's band room. Cox said the plan is to remove the terracing in the old band room, leveling the floor to make for a more practical space. He said the project includes additional room for band facilities, as well.
