Nicole Wellington teaches first-grade French to students as carpet frays and tears are visible on the floor of her room at the CSLA school on East Brainerd Road.BUILDING NEEDSHere are the six top construction projects for Hamilton County Schools:• An addition at Wolftever Creek Elementary• A new building to replace Falling Water Elementary and Ganns Middle Valley Elementary• An addition at Nolan Elementary• An addition at Sale Creek Middle-High• A new building to replace and expand the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts• A new middle school for the East Hamilton area
Cracks and holes in the walls are evident in the auditorium at CSLA as strings instructor Mary Benno, left, center, tunes a violin for fifth-grader Austin Lee on Monday.
Visible structure problems exist in many areas of the dated school on East Brainerd Road.It’s not just about getting something new and shiny.
For parents and teachers at the sought-after Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts, a new school building would mean spreading opportunity to hundreds more students across Hamilton County and opening a high school in the top ranks of its secondary schools.
A replacement CSLA building is one of six projects to make it onto a school board to-do list, whittled from lists of dozens of needed repairs, replacements and additions.
County commissioners say they are ready to fund school construction projects. It’s now just a matter of how much money is available, which schools get approval and when.