Catoosa County School System Director of Operations Mike Sholl is gearing up for a big project at Graysville Elementary School.Graysville Elementary School is gearing up for a $10.5 million project set to begin in late October.
The 18-month long project, which was awarded to bidder EMJ Construction Company, will provide a two-story addition that includes four fifth-grade classrooms, four fourth-grade classrooms, a science lab and a new media facility on the top floor, and four third-grade classrooms, four second-grade classrooms, and a science lab on the bottom floor.
Graysville is the only school that still has "pod" classrooms, or classrooms without doors, and a remodel has long been necessary, Catoosa County Schools Superintendent Denia Reese said.
"[They] were popular in the 1970s, but they are not effective today," she said.
Seventeen classrooms and the current office area will be torn down to create room for the new addition, said Catoosa County School System Director of Operations Mike Sholl.
"There's also a music room to remodel and the cafeteria will be remodeled and special education classes will be remodeled," said Sholl. "The fourth-and fifth-grade hallways will be remodeled. They will get new ceilings, new floors and new paint. When it's all said and done it's basically a brand-new school. The existing wings will also get new roofs."
Email Katie Ward at kward@timesfreepress.com or call her at 423-757-6425.