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All the work will be done with local funds and will require no bond issues.
"We've planned hard and ahead, and we've only pursued those projects we could afford," Brister said. "We will not go in debt. I give (projects) $5,000 here, $5,000 there and another $5,000 over here as I can. You take on projects you can do, and not take out bonds. The taxpayers have enough on them."
With new classrooms and other facilities built at other schools and only recently completed, Brister said needs for academic space have been met and the eight projects waiting for bids this year are mainly infrastructural in nature. The primary goal of the projects is to create more parking spaces for students and visiting parents.
"We have none," Brister said of parking at the four schools. "We're everywhere - we're right on the road. All of our sites are in dire need of parking."
At Loyd Star Attendance Center, the district's biggest school, 17 acres of land between the site and nearby Jackson-Liberty Drive purchased in 2006 are about to be converted into a new parking lot, and the groundwork for a future football stadium is being laid. The planned parking area is designed to service students and attendees to all Loyd Star sporting events, Brister said, a need that can be clearly seen at the school on Friday nights when the shoulders of Highway 550 are strewn with cars.
A new football field is still years away, Brister said, and only the initial dirt work will be performed this year.
Eventually, new classrooms will be built on the site of the current football field, he said. He said a new field would be necessary because new classrooms must be kept close, and the 17-acre property is far behind the school.
Work is continuing on the new band hall at Loyd Star, which will give the county's only high school band a new practice space with improved acoustics.
The 40x60-foot building has already been erected, and Brister said interior work would begin this year. Once the new band hall is complete, the old one will be renovated into offices and storage space for the band, he said.
"They're very productive for our schools and parents as far as scholarships are concerned, and we're gonna take care of them," Brister said of the Loyd Star band members.
West Lincoln Attendance Center is also in line for parking upgrades. Brister said the school's main parking lot will be repaved, while a gravel lot adjacent to the gymnasium would be paved.
The most expensive project at West Lincoln - and perhaps the most expensive on the district list - will be replacing the roof of the Jack Case Gymnasium. Brister said the job is estimated to cost around $150,000 or more, but necessary to keep the leaky roof from destroying the building.
"We checked it out, and it's showing signs of aging," he said.
At Bogue Chitto Attendance Center - the only school not struggling to provide parking for its students - a small project to construct a pavilion on the newly furnished playground will begin this year. Brister said he would begin seeking price estimates for the installation of new metal bleachers at the school's baseball field.
Enterprise Attendance Center will see a project similar to that of Loyd Star's, and will have its current baseball field turned into a parking lot once a new field, further away from the school, is constructed. Just like at Loyd Star, Brister said parking areas will be created close to the facilities, while sporting arenas could stand to be placed farther away.
"You don't want to move your parking all the way to the back, slap in the woods," he said. "We'll build the parking lot up close and let it service everything."
The girls' softball team at Enterprise will also have a new dressing room, courtesy of a renovated old weight room at the school.
Major projects like the new football and baseball fields are still ongoing projects, Brister said, and will be built dollar-by-dollar over the coming years, just like the projects going ahead in 2009 were. Most of the current projects have been planned since 2006, he said.
"Hopefully, we're being good stewards, and conservative, with the taxpayers' dollars while building, upgrading and maintaining our campuses to accommodate our students and community while we grow into the future," Brister said.
