MARIETTA - The Cobb School Board is expected to award a contract at its Jan. 28 meeting for construction of a replacement school at East Side Elementary, and construction is slated to begin in February.

The school is one of three construction projects financed by the third Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and overseen by Brookwood PBS&J, which was hired in May.

The other two projects will be ninth-grade centers at North Cobb and South Cobb high schools.

North Cobb's project will be done in two parts: demolition, for which bids are due Feb. 18, and construction, with bids due March 18. South Cobb's project bids are due April 15.

Paul Walker, of PBS&J, updated board members on the status of all three projects on Wednesday.

At East Side Elementary, which is on Roswell Road at the entrance to the Indian Hills subdivision, parents had criticized the lack of windows in earlier designs of the new school, and the architects have made adjustments, Walker said.

Transom windows have been added between classrooms, and the ceilings on the terrace level will be raised to 10 feet to increase the size of these windows. Also, on the terrace level, light wells will be added to the north side of the building, which will provide light to more classrooms.

"Twenty-three of the 33 classrooms on the terrace level will have exterior windows or light wells providing natural light," Walker said.

The layout has also been altered so that students will not have to cross a parking lot to reach the playgrounds. The number of parking spaces will also nearly double, to 167.

The East Side project is budgeted at $21.5 million. Walker said he expects to receive 12 bids for the project.

The school will remain open during the construction. The new building is slated to be finished in May 2011 and in use by that fall. In June 2011, crews will begin demolishing the existing school. The project is to be complete in December 2011.

The ninth-grade center at North Cobb High is scheduled for final completion by Oct. 28, 2011. At South Cobb High, final completion is expected by Sept. 9, 2011. Each of those projects is budgeted at about $22 million.