New schools, same spots

It’s one thing to construct two new $12 million schools on time, but quite another to erect them next to the buildings they will replace.

“We’re living with the challenges for a year,” Soddy Elementary School principal Lee Ann Mills said.

Administrators at Soddy and Orchard Knob elementaries have learned to be creative in scheduling, parking and instruction while their new facilities go up inches away from their current buildings.

Ms. Mills rerouted traffic to accommodate the new building and found another place for students to get on and off buses. Students also have dealt with construction noise and heat reflecting into classrooms from the new building’s metal roof, she said.

In the end, the inconveniences will be worth it, Ms. Mills said.

“We see the new building coming up every day, so we’re positive about it,” she said. “We have challenges, but we’ve made it.”

The new elementary facilities are part of a $152 million building program under way in the Hamilton County Schools district. A new Hixson Middle School, under construction adjacent to Hixson High School, will open in January 2009. The $22.2 million facility replaces the old school about one mile from the existing campus.

Two new high schools also are included in the construction program. A new Signal Mountain Middle High School will open in August, and East Hamilton Middle High School is scheduled to open next year.

Soddy and Orchard Knob elementaries are expected to open in August, but Gary Waters, assistant superintendent of auxiliary services, said getting everything in place by the time school starts will be “a tremendous time crunch.”

After classes finish at the end of May, crews will take a week to remove existing materials and furniture from the old buildings, two weeks for asbestos abatement required in both elementary schools and four weeks to demolish the old facilities. The contractors will use any remaining time before school starts to prepare the driveways and parking areas at the new site, Mr. Waters said.

“It’s certainly an ambitious schedule,” he said.

Hamilton County Board of Education member Debra Matthews, who represents Orchard Knob’s district, said the new school will serve elementary students better. The old school was built to house middle and high school students.

“It will have historical value to the kids that are currently there now because they watched it being built from the bottom up,” she said. “To see something that beautiful and that big that they’re going to be a part of is exciting.”

The last time Hamilton County built a replacement school on an existing campus was in 2000 when the district opened $6 million Westview Elementary.