School staff at Hillcrest Elementary were eager to point out all the cracked windows, leaky ceiling tiles and stained carpet inside their building Friday to a tour group of business people.
Their plan? Convince members of the Enterprise Gateway Council of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce to volunteer their time and money to spruce up the school over summer vacation.
“If you look over here at this wall, it looks like it’s melting away,” said tour guide and exceptional education teacher Jeff Scott during a stop in a kindergarten classroom with four walls of peeling paint. “The kids in this school deserve to have a new, shiny school. These kids deserve the absolute best we have to give.”
After a request from the Enterprise Gateway Council, representatives from about 20 businesses came to Hillcrest to see how they could help.
“The Chamber said, ‘We’re better than this as a community. We need to get involved,'” said John Ballinger, president-elect of the council. “It takes involvement from businesses to get this leverage.”
Mr. Ballinger said he has talked with members of the North River Council of the Chamber about similar work they helped with two summers ago on renovations to Normal Park Museum Magnet Upper School.
Some business leaders who joined Friday’s tour said they are concerned about Hillcrest’s chronically leaking roof that has not yet been repaired by Hamilton County Department of Education officials. The school ends up losing a lot of its teaching materials because of the leaks, Katrina Overton, the school’s principal, said.
The business people said they wondered if renovation efforts would be only a Band-Aid until the next big thunderstorm. Several hoped their pledge of support would put some pressure on members of the Hamilton County Board of Education to get the roof fixed quickly.
Board member Jeffrey Wilson, who represents Hillcrest’s district, said the school system is aware of the school’s physical needs.
“Hillcrest is certainly in line for repair. We’ve got limited resources, but Hillcrest hasn’t been forgotten about,” he said. “Any help the business community can offer is valuable.”
Karen Thurman-Goldman, owner of Office Furniture Warehouse, said her company plans to donate furniture to various rooms in the building, and see how else they could help.
“I was shocked. It was really shameful,” she said after the tour. “I’ve got five boys, and I wouldn’t want them coming to this school; it’s a health hazard.”
Ms. Overton said teachers already had submitted color and theme choices, hoping businesses adopted their classrooms. The school is asking for businesses to give each room a fresh coat of paint and new flooring, as well as a $1,500 donation to create a special reading area in each.
Mr. Ballinger said he hopes to get even more businesses interested in helping Hillcrest so the work can be done before students return to school in August.
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