By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The former Thompson High School building on Warrior Drive will see some more upgrades in the coming weeks, as the Alabaster Board of Education voted during a late February meeting to approve change orders for the projects.

School Board members voted unanimously during their Feb. 27 meeting to approve a $22,955 change order to install new marker and tack boards throughout the school, and voted to approve a $28,470 change order to replace carpet in the school. Both change orders were approved for the McKee and Associates company, which is handling the renovation project.

ACS Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers said the project to transform the old THS into the new Thompson Middle School building is progressing on schedule, and should be completed in time to welcome students at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.

Vickers said crews will start installing stone columns on the building’s exterior within the next few weeks, and likely will complete sealcoating and restriping of the school’s parking areas over spring break in March.

The old THS building has been vacant since students moved into the new THS campus in February 2018. Once the renovations are completed, Alabaster City Schools will be able to enact its plan to move school campuses beginning with the fall 2019 semester.

ACS is planning to move Thompson Middle School and Thompson Sixth Grade Center into the old THS building and then move Thompson Intermediate School into the current TMS building. The current Thompson Intermediate School will be renovated to serve as central office space for the school system.

The school moves originally were planned to take place in August after renovations were completed last summer, but the scope of the renovations to the old THS building were much more extensive than originally estimated, ACS leaders said previously.