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Buildings designed to meet needs of today's students

By: Beverly Carroll
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By: Chloé Morrison
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Ronnie Bradford
Eddie Gravitte

When Jeff Fava was at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in the early 1980s, high-tech learning tools were hard to come by.

“If we had a calculator we felt like we were doing good,” the Ringgold, Ga., resident said.

When Mr. Fava’s son starts his freshman year at Catoosa County’s new Heritage High School this week, he will have access to a fully loaded television studio, photograpy darkroom, a 900-seat tech-ready theater and gym equipment customized with the school’s mascot.

The modern features at Heritage High contributed to the overall $42.5 million price tag for the school, and such technology is practically required in new high schools these days.

“I think having those possibilities is going to be more than beneficial to the young people because that is what they are going to have use in their futures,” Signal Mountain High teacher Carole Thomas said. “We definitely needed to incorporate that into their learning.”

Classrooms in the new $39.8 million Signal Mountain Middle-High School have interactive whiteboards, and students will hone their computer skills in seven dedicated labs outfitted with 33 new iMacs and 288 Dell computers. At lunch, students will dine in an airy, 350-seat cafeteria after filing through any of six serving lines.

The multimillion-dollar price tag of both schools generated wild rumors about grandiose extras in both.

“There is no pool and no bowling alley,” Signal Mountain Middle-High principal Eddie Gravitte said.

But those are about the only things lacking in these schools. Designed with input from teachers, students, parents, administrators and other community members, both offer state-of-the-art design, the latest in technology and top-of-the-line science labs, music rooms and libraries, their principals said.

The new high school in North Georgia and middle-high on Signal Mountain are the most expensive of several buildings opening this year in the region. Walker County’s Rossville Middle and two new Hamilton County elementary schools — Orchard Knob and Soddy-Daisy — also welcome students this year.

Heritage High School

Heritage High, situated on a sprawling 125 acres, is the first new school to open in Catoosa County in 35 years.

Heritage will offer much-needed relief from overcrowding at the county’s other two high schools. Ringgold High, built to hold 970 students, enrolled 1,600 students last year. Enrollment at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High was 1,400 last year even though it was built for 1,250 students.

When planning the new facility, administrators looked to many other educators and schools for ideas.

“We toured many high schools in the state of Georgia,” said Catoosa County Schools Superintendent Denia Reese. “We took the best of what of what we saw, making sure we got it right.”

Like the building itself — which boasts a Barnes & Noble-style media center — the first day of school at Heritage High will be unique.

“Instead of coming in and sitting in their classes and everybody listening to a lot of rules, they are going to do a problem-solving thing,” principal Ronnie Bradford said.

During the activity, students will have freedom to roam the 250,000-square-foot facility.

“It will set the tone for school — school is learning, it is problem solving, it is thinking — and at the same time they will ... get to know the building,” Mr. Bradford said.

There will be plenty to see: a spacious band room, fully equipped television studio, dance studio, photographic darkroom, indoor track and basketball court with four-sided scoreboard, and separate fields for soccer and football.

Catoosa County Board of Education Chairman Don Dycus said the school district has not overlooked other schools. Renovations and upgrades to others facilities remain a priority, he said. For example, classroom wings and an auxiliary gymnasium were added to Ringgold High this year, he said.

Signal Mountain Middle/High School

On the first day of school at Signal Mountain, dozens of teachers and hundreds of students finally will experience the school that “has been 50 years in the making,” Mr. Gravitte said.

The school is the first new high school in Hamilton County to be built in 27 years. The last high school to open in the county was Soddy-Daisy High in 1981.

“It is almost like a shock,” Signal Mountain High teacher Carole Thomas said. “You’ve won the lottery and everybody is sort of in shock.”

Located on a 39-acre tract near Nolan Elementary School, the 262,249-square-foot school has three athletic practice fields, a stadium field and gymnasiums that seat 1,600 and 700, respectively. Inside the middle-high school, classrooms are outfitted with Promethium boards and wireless Internet capability.

School officials ordered Plato software, which provides online courses, to help students make up credits lost during their transfer into the school, Mr. Gravitte said.

“Students can use them for credit recovery, intervention or for credit make up,” he said.

To elevate the schools academic standards, the school is pursuing designation as an International Baccalaureate school, Ms. Thomas said.

“It is an international program that promotes and advanced learning style among all students,” she said. Faculty already have begun the rigorous training process required to earn the IB designation.

Emily Queen, who will start her junior year at Signal, said she is excited about the possibilities the new school brings.

“I think the little theater is really cool,” Emily said. “Everybody is excited about Friday night football on the mountain.”

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