Excavators, jack-hammers and other construction equipment are scattered across campus. “It’s an ever-changing ebb and flow with construction,” associate principal Marie Yuran said. Photo by Nicholas Byrne
By NICHOLAS BYRNE – Broadcast Managing Editor
In light of campus-wide changes due to renovation, administrators have increased their focus on campus safety.
“We knew there were going to be some distractions because of construction,” Clarke Central High School associate principal Marie Yuran said. “Sometimes it’s either you stay in a building that’s not meeting your needs, or you put up with some of these things along the way to get a building that more supports the goals and vision of the school.”
Amid the construction, CCHS administration has a protocol to handle any safety issues that may arise.
“I only meet with one person, that’s Joe Dunagan, he works for Clarke County School District, that’s on Mondays,” principal Dr. Robbie P. Hooker said. “But if anything arises we are usually on the phone, or he sets up a meeting or I set up a meeting, and we meet as necessary.”
Hooker says some of the responsibility is up to the faculty as well as the students in the building. Concerns are brought to the attention of the administration through principal’s secretary Cheryl Lee, and then to Hooker.
“If there are specific concerns those have to be articulated by students or teachers through the proper channels so those can be investigated,” said Yuran.
CCHS is in Stage II of a four-stage renovation plan; administrators and students are learning how to cope with the ever-changing flow of construction as the year progresses.
“We’re going to hear jackhammers during instructional time, we’re going to hear those kinds of things that are a part of this construction process,” said Yuran. “I think we all just have to be vigilant and flexible.”