Catoosa County’s oldest school has finally received a new building.
Parents, teachers and community members packed the halls of Graysville Elementary School’s new state-of-the-art facility for a grand-opening ceremony and tour earlier this month.
Students take turns riding down the spiral slide in Graysville Elementary’s new facility during its grand-opening celebration Jan. 10. Trips to the slide will serve as a reward for students’ good behavior or excellent performance in the classroom. (Staff photo by Myron Madden)The celebration comes two years after the building broke ground, and several more years since county officials began working to dedicate E-SPLOST funds toward the $16 million construction and renovation project.
The new facility has 19 individual classrooms, moving away from the doorless, open-classroom model of the original building, which is more than 65 years old. Having attended Graysville herself as a child, Principal Kerri Sholl said she believes the separated classrooms will make it easier for students to focus.
“When I was a little girl, my first-grade classroom was in those open classrooms, and I can remember, even as a little student, how distracting it was to not pay attention to what was going on in the other two classrooms because all three of them were right there, open together,” she said.
One of the most eye-catching new features in the school is an indoor spiral slide that takes students from the second floor to the first. The twisty blue installment isn’t intended to be a clever way to merely transport students, however; it’s meant to be an incentive for good behavior or performance in the classroom.
“It’s not just if you’re in the hall and you want to go down the slide. Kids have to earn that,” said Sholl, who pitched the idea for the slide after seeing a similar one in a school in Atlanta. “We’re constantly looking at ways to encourage kids to want to work hard, to do the right thing, and that’s one way.”
Another adjustment introduced with the new building is the change in location for the entrance, whose more level terrain will provide a breather for those worried about accidents during students’ dismissal and arrival to or from the old building’s hilltop entrance.
Every year, around 130 children and teenagers nationwide die as pedestrians in school transportation-related crashes, according to a study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The new facility will do more than just reduce the risk of such transportation hazards, Sholl added. With more security cameras installed in the new building and structural differences that make it easier for main-office staff to monitor the front door, the upgrade has also increased protection from outside threats for students on school grounds.
“All those things just make it a much safer environment,” Sholl said.
The new building will maintain the existing gymnasium, cafeteria and special education classrooms, all of which were renovated as part of the project.
Though students in grades 2-5 have already moved over to the newly constructed building, the first-graders and kindergartners will have to wait a bit longer. The old hallway designated for the two age groups’ classrooms is still undergoing renovations that will make it similar in appearance to the hallways in the new facility.
The work is expected to be complete by summer, and once the remaining students have moved into their new space, the oldest parts of the original building will be demolished, with some portions slated to remain for storage.
Sholl praised the building’s architects for adapting their design based on school officials’ input about what would create a more positive learning environment for the students, and offered special thanks to local leaders and community supporters who pushed to make the new building a reality.
“I’m just so proud that we’re in a school system where our school board, our community, our superintendent really want the absolute best for kids,” said Sholl. “I’m so proud that … our leadership really believes in the motto of ‘every student, every day, no exceptions.'”
Email Myron Madden at mmadden@timesfreepress.com.