In a called meeting Monday night, the Wilkes County Board of Education declared the old school property on Gordon Street to be surplus and voted to advertise the property for sale or lease.

In addition to the school disposal agreement, the board awarded the landscaping contract for the new school, approved further expenditures for the school's construction company, and agreed to upgrade the schools' websites. They also discussed adding new search procedures for field trips to school and athletic handbooks.

In Monday night's meeting, board Chairman Ricky Callaway, Vice Chairman Andrew Jackson, and members Kay Finnell, Bob Guin, and Steve Albertson declared the old school property to be surplus, and resolved that it be offered for sale with conditions that reserved occasional use of the field house, practice fields, and gym until June 1, 2010, and use of the tennis courts until June 1, 2012.

In addition to agreeing to dispose of the property, the board agreed to advertise the property for sale or lease with sealed bids due by September 10. Bids will be opened and read at a called meeting September 14 at 12:30, and the winning bid announced at the board's regular meeting September 21.

The action opens the door for a new company that has expressed interest in the complex to house a homeland security training center.

The advertisement will run in The News-Reporter, and in publications in Athens, Augusta, and Atlanta, along with selected government bidding websites. The request for proposal will be posted at the board website, www.wilkes.K12.ga.us, by Friday, August 7, Superintendent Rosemary Caddell said.

In a related action, the board first approved a change in policy to allow the lease of the property for up to 50 years to align with state policy.

The board also awarded the landscaping contract for the new school complex to L.C. Givens Landscaping of Watkinsville in the amount of $84,184.

After going over the construction punch list of unfinished items at the new school, Caddell said that most of the items had been remedied, and those few remaining items would not affect using the school starting this week. She recommended, and the board agreed, to pay McKnight Construction $440,811.05. Some $100,000 remains to be paid when all punch list items are completed.

The board also approved an expenditure of $12,000 for E-Chalk Web Services, which will make each school's website much easier for school administrators to update, and for teachers and parents to interact. The cost will come from Title 1 funds because it will improve parental involvement and communications.

Board members also discussed adding procedures for searching student backpacks before field trips, after a high school student took a handgun on a trip to Athens and accidentally shot another student. Caddell said she had talked with principals and Coach Lee Hutto, and recommended that new language be added to both the student handbook and to the athletic handbook.