News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
A new phone system will be installed at Cookeville and Upperman High Schools, using federal COVID money.
Putnam County School Board approved the $111,000 project Thursday night. Director of Schools Corby King said the systems have had issues.
“We’ve had issues for a long time, especially Upperman,” King said. “The intercom’s not working properly for a while and we were able to use these funds to replace those the deferred maintenance piece and facilities upgrades. So we’re really excited to move forward with those projects.”
IdeaCom Networks will install the new phone systems.
ESSER 2.0 funds will pay for the replacements. King said the extra money has allowed the system to stay out of its reserve funds for emergencies.
“These are deferred maintenance projects that we have been chipping away just a little bit at a time with the county commission working with them, and we might not get one year, two years down the road with these funds,” King said. “We’re able to knock out three, four or five years into our long range facilities, plans and upgrading, especially in our HVAC systems.”
The school board also approved the bid for a Knoxville firm to upgrade security entrances at Algood Middle and Avery Trace Middle Schools.
