Feb. 25, 2008

Ground broken on new Centre Middle School

By SCOTT WRIGHT

CENTRE — Not that anyone in drought-stricken Cherokee County was complaining about the weather, but a rainstorm did put a damper on groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Centre Middle School on Friday.

Superintendent of Schools Brian Johnson and the members of the Board of Education presented the program at the monthly Chamber of Commerce breakfast, held in the library-media center at the current site of Centre Middle School. The main topic of conversation was the new school, which will start going up a couple of miles down Highway 9 in April. A planned trip to the site for a formal groundbreaking was scuttled because of muddy conditions at the construction site.

Johnson began his remarks to the crowd of over 100 local dignitaries, officials, teachers and county residents by thanking previous Board of Education members and Superintendent Ed Arnold, Jr. for having the foresight to purchase 66 acres near the east end of the Chesnut Bypass years ago. Johnson said having the land ready and waiting for construction to begin gave him and the current board members a huge advantage.

“This is a great occasion, to be moving into the new middle school,” Johnson said. “We're all really excited.”
Johnson turned the program over to Sewell McKee, a representative of McKee & Associates, the Montgomery-based architecture and interior design firm that will build the $10.2 million complex. McKee explained details of the construction project during a short slide presentation.

“First of all, congratulations to all of you, I know a new school is something that you are all excited about,” McKee told the gathering. “This new school will make a difference in the lives of the children of this community.”

McKee explained that he began conversations with Johnson and board members a year ago, in anticipation of the county passing an ad valorem tax extension that would allow the school system to borrow the money needed to construct a new school in Centre, a new gymnasium in Sand Rock and fund myriad other improvements at the county's other campuses.

“We started talking about the number of students, the types of programs the students needed, and then sat down and talked with the board members,” McKee said. “From those meetings, we drew up some preliminary schemes and budgets.”

McKee commended Johnson and the board members for including the faculty and staff at Centre Middle School in the construction planning stage.
“We were able to sit down and talk with the people who were actually going to be using the facility, from the science teachers to the physical education teachers, to the nutrition specialists,” he said. “And I applaud Mr. Johnson and the Board for letting us speak with the various people who gave insight into this project.”

McKee said plans are 90 percent complete and should be finished in time for construction to begin around the middle of April.

McKee outlined plans for a one-story structure that will feature 26 classrooms, two computer labs, a science lab, a band room, a multi-media center, special education space, and an administration wing.

“And the gymnasium will seat 500, the cafeteria 288,” he said. “The school is organized along a central hallway to make it easier for the administrator see what's going on in her school.”

The school parking lot was also designed to create separate lanes of traffic for school buses and parents coming to pick up their children. At the request of principal Renee Williams and other faculty members, the design includes a centrally-located student space near the administration wing.
“This will actually be almost like an atrium, with high ceilings and a series of columns,” McKee said. “It will be a great place where students can spend their break time, where they can congregate on a daily basis.”

State Rep. Richard Lindsey, state Sen. Larry Means, Probate Judge Melvyn Salter and Williams also addressed the crowd.

“You could almost classify this as historic, the groundbreaking of a much-needed new school here in Cherokee County,” Lindsey said. “It doesn't happen often.”