Elementary students will get some relief from the heat thanks to a major renovation project approved by the Henry County Board of Education.

The school board voted at its March 14 regular meeting to approve a $4,582,000 initiative that will impact 29 elementary school gymnasiums. The work will include demolition of existing heating and exhaust systems and installation of new air conditioning systems for those facilities.

According to officials, construction will begin next month and conclude in July of 2023 with minimal impact to daily school operations. Funding for the project is coming from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund, which consists of federal COVID relief money.

In other business, the school board approved a $3,278,732 upgrade to the district’s data center, specifically its virtualized server environment. The improvements will result in increased capacity and added efficiency, according to officials. Some equipment was installed five of six years ago under the district’s previous SPLOST and is due to be updated.

This project is being funded under the new SPLOST and will focus on storage hardware, servers and professional services this year, while licensing and backup will be addressed over the next four years.

Renewal of the district’s lease agreement with Ricoh Systems was approved at a cost of $1,117,995.84. That total is slightly less than the previous year, according to officials, and some equipment that has been in use for three years or more will be replaced with new equipment under the terms of the agreement.

Mackenzie McDaniel was nominated and confirmed by his fellow board members to be the district’s voting representative at the Georgia School Board Association’s summer conference in June in Savannah. Sophe Pope was named the alternate delegate.