CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. -- Melody Day wasn't interested when officials from the Georgia Department of Education pitched the idea to demolish the stately, brick 85-year-old Gordon Lee High School and replace it with a building that would look the same, but be brand new on the inside.
"I think Gordon Lee High School is the most beautiful high school I have ever seen," said Day, the superintendent of Chickamauga City Schools, Tuesday night to dozens of people who almost filled a wall of bleachers in the high school's gym.
"No one wants to tear down the old school," she said.
Yet school officials unveiled a proposal Tuesday night for a brand new, larger high school that would be built directly in front of the existing main building. Students would take classes in the old building for 18 months to two years, while construction took place, then the 1930s-era building would be demolished.
"[State officials] assured me ... we can make it look exactly as it does [now]," Day said of the new main building, which would be longer than the current one.
The Olive Lee building next door to the main building would be knocked down to make room for a parking lot. The Tom Lee building, on the other side of the main building, would remain, but it wouldn't be used for class -- it might house both a museum and the alumni club.
School Superintendent Melody Day, seen in front of a mural of the existing Gordon Lee building, speaks during a Chickamauga City Schools board meeting Tuesday at Gordon Lee High School in Chickamauga, Ga.Day initially preferred the idea of gutting and then restoring the main high school building and the Tom Lee and Olive Lee buildings that flank it.
"I was very excited about this and thought it would be the answer to our problems," she said, citing the old buildings' 85-year-old plumbing among their shortcomings.
But Day started to change her mind after state officials explained the disadvantages of remodeling, including loss of classroom space because elevators would be required in all three buildings and boys' and girls' bathrooms would have to be added to each floor.
The school district plans to meet every deadline to get the state to fund the tear-down option, which Day said likely would be the best financially. The school district would contribute $2.8 million from its educational special purpose local option sales tax (ESPLOST) and the state would pay the rest of the estimated $10 million total cost.
Chickamauga City Schools qualifies for special funding from the state, Day said, because the district ranks as "the eighth-poorest in the state."
While school officials plan to apply for the state funding, they said they won't decide whether to demolish or remodel the old building until November and December. In the meantime, they said they'll seek public input and expert advice.
"I want to tell you -- and this is the honest truth -- no decision has been made," Day said.
School board Chairman Corky Jewell said, "Tonight is the first of what we hope to be several meetings were are going to hold. We want input and participation of the community."
The school board had forms Tuesday night for people to fill out, but only let one person speak: Claudette Morrison, a 1953 grad who founded the alumni association and worked for years as a secretary at the high school.
"Please seek help from an architect who specializes in historic renovation," said Morrison, who doesn't want the old buildings demolished.
In other business, Day announced the school district would have to increase its property tax to 14 mills this year, up from 12 mills, in order to keep getting $750,000, annually, in state equalization money. School officials thought they could postpone the tax hike for a year, but just learned from state officials they had to do it this year to keep the funding. The board must vote on the tax increase by August.
"Now I bet you're even more depressed than when you first came," Day told the crowd.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.
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