Brewer High School’s undersized and outdated athletic field house is in line to be replaced as a capital improvement project of the Morgan County School Board.

The replacement of the facility was a topic of discussion at a school board work session Thursday night.

Superintendent Bill Hopkins Jr. reported that he and representatives of GBW Architects visited the Brewer campus recently to tour the existing field house and determine if a new, larger facility could be build on the same location.

“It was recommended that the existing 7,000-square-foot building be demolished and removed,” Hopkins said. “District Commissioner Greg Abercrombie has agreed to do the demolition work.

“If we do that, a 14,000-square-foot facility can be built on the same site, with additional needed space coming from the student parking lot.”

Hopkins added, “We’ll have a plan soon. It’s the one we’re going to use to build the field house at the new Priceville High School. By using it, we can save the school system a substantial amount of money.”

Board members agreed that Brewer needs a new field house and accepted Hopkins’ suggestion that the Priceville plan be reviewed by Brewer coaches for their input when it is completed.

The question of timing the project so that it would not interfere with football season was raised by Tom Earwood, board member for District 6 (Brewer).

“If we started today, I see a year’s delay,” Earwood said. “We need to start and finish the project so that it doesn’t interfere with football season.”

Hopkins said he has had some people suggest that the school system needs a central rehabilitation facility to take care of athletes recovering from sports injuries and indicated that a new sports complex at Brewer would serve as a good location for such a facility.