A photo of the front entrance of Clarke Middle School is shown. CMS sixth-grade enrichment teacher Chris Woodward believes the conditions of the CMS building are disappointing. “Some of the biggest issues that we have are our AC units don’t work. Some of them, we’ve been told, can’t be fixed because they’re so old they can no longer manufacture parts for them,” Woodward said. “There are classrooms that you walk in that are just damp–they just feel wet and it’s disgusting, and I worry about the health conditions.” Photo by Elena Webber
Preparations are being made at Clarke Middle School to undergo renovations and a possible rebuild.
Clarke Middle School students, parents and teachers spoke at the Oct. 10 Clarke County School District Board of Education meeting about the need for renovation and potential construction of the CMS building.
According to CMS seventh-grade ELA teacher Mollie Sherman, the CMS building underwent a partial renovation in the early 2000s.
“At the time, the CMS community was thrilled to have a building, one that was constructed in the 1950s, receive a facelift. The outside structure was maintained (and) preserved historical value. The classrooms and much of the infrastructure was updated,” Sherman said.
The CCSD’s three other middle schools, Coile Middle School, Hilsman Middle School and Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School were all renovated or rebuilt by the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax V. Although all four middle schools were originally on the proposed SPLOST V budget, all but CMS were actually completed.
Renovations to BHL and Coile were completed in March 2019, and the final costs were $17 million and $16 million respectively. For Hilsman, the final construction cost was approximately $28 million and was completed in September of 2019.
A photo of an empty hallway outside the cafeteria at Clarke Middle School is shown. According to CMS Principal Christopher Pendley, CMS’ Local School Governance Team met with district SPLOST officials and the SPLOST project manager to get an update on where CMS is in terms of possible renovations or rebuilding. “As it stands now, what we were told is that we have $10 million dollars that are allocated to Clarke Middle School from SPLOST V. That money’s not collected yet, so it’s not money we can begin using at this point, but it’ll be available in November of 2021,” Pendley said. “But if the needs of our building indicate that we need more than $10 million, the district is willing to prioritize us with SPLOST VI, assuming it’s passed by Clarke County voters.” Photo by Elena Webber
“When we realized the huge overhaul of updates the other schools in the (CCSD) received, we realized that our partial renovation paled in comparison to them. Our building is out of date, dilapidated and run down relative to the other middle schools,” Sherman said.
According to CMS eighth-grader Dylan Mojock, a few of the problems facing the building include the outdated gym which has never been remodeled, no track, an infestation of cockroaches and not enough space to accommodate the growing student body.
“Our school is infested with bugs. We see cockroaches daily and it disrupts class all the time. Many of the desks are broken. The ceiling in my math class leaks regularly and causes the room to smell bad and (it creates) mold. It honestly can feel like sometimes we are trapped,” Mojock said. “I can’t imagine being a teacher at CMS. They do such a great job and work so hard, but I would think it isn’t easy working in a space where there are so many problems that could be prevented if only the county cared about the school.”
CMS seventh-grader Sophia Hunter has also noticed the conditions of the school and spoke at the Oct. 11 board meeting.
“Our school is infested with bugs. We see cockroaches daily and it disrupts class all the time. Many of the desks are broken. The ceiling in my math class leaks regularly and causes the room to smell bad and (it creates) mold. It honestly can feel like sometimes we are trapped”
— Dylan Mojock,
CMS eighth-grader
“I was on the volleyball team at CMS this past season and we practiced in the gym, but unlike all the other schools that have been somewhat recently renovated, we couldn’t play actual games in our gym (because it’s too small). Instead, we had to play all of our home games at Clarke Central,” Hunter said.
Money allocated towards CMS and its renovation needs was originally a part of the E-SPLOST budget but was removed to build a new elementary school on Vincent Drive.
“Last year the district came to our Local School Governance Team and our LSGT voted to give that money (that was for CMS) back to the district because they said they wanted to build elementary school C. Well for some reason, in the course of four to six months, the district no longer wanted to build elementary school C, so my first thought was, ‘OK, well that money that we voted on, where’s that going to go?’,” CMS sixth-grade enrichment teacher Chris Woodward said. “And when it turned out that money was going to go to district offices instead of back to the children of Clarke County, instead of back to Clarke Middle, it was really upsetting.”
A photo of a broken scoreboard located on the lower field of Clarke Middle School behind the Athens-Clarke County Public Library is shown. According to CMS seventh-grader Sophia Hunter, students at CMS get comments about how run-down the building is which results in a loss of pride in their school. “It is impossible to take pride in our school if we feel embarrassed about where we go. We need to be as proud of our school as the students that go to the other newer and nicer middle schools are,” Hunter said. Photo by Elena Webber
Former District Two Board member Dr. Frances Berry was the only member at the meeting to share her thoughts about the condition of CMS.
“When we talk about things being all about the kids, I haven’t heard one person on this Board mention the fact that those students were here tonight talking publicly about their needs and so what I would really like to do is, I think I probably agree with Greg (Davis)–take a step back, let’s reassess where we are,” Berry said.
According to Julie Powell, parent of a fifth-grader and first-grader at Timothy Road Elementary School, there are $35 million still in SPLOST, enough to build a new CMS for the projected $25-28 million dollars needed for it.
“There’s been a lot of talk about equity in CCSD– about giving every student what he or she needs to succeed every day,” Powell said. “One major step in that direction would be to ensure all the middle school students in Clarke County have equal access to a safe, clean, updated facility where they can have what they need every day to learn.”
After this meeting, the district returned $10 million in SPLOST V funding to CMS. According to CMS Principal Christopher Pendley, there is also the possibility of adding funds from SPLOST VI, assuming it passes.
“We are currently beginning a planning and public input phase. The first step is for my LSGT to set criteria and form a building committee. (When we start making changes) depends on the decisions made based on community input,” Pendley said. “If we decide to move forward with a comprehensive renovation or full rebuild, construction would likely begin in the spring of 2022.”
According to Pendley, some of the things he would like to see changed and added on within the building are a maternity room, a laundry facility and modifications to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A photo of wooden bleachers which are located on the lower field of Clarke Middle School behind the Athens-Clarke County Public Library are shown. Along with the state of the bleachers, CMS Principal Christopher Pendley believes there are a few problems pertaining to the CMS fields. “Our lower field currently does not have (Americans with Disabilities Act) access. That was a significant thing that we felt needed to be improved,” Pendley said. Photo by Elena Webber
“Some of the things that are on my wishlist that we don’t currently have are things like a maternity room because we have multiple teachers who have come back from maternity leave recently, and they have to take care of the things that they have to do either in a classroom and cross their fingers that nobody unlocks their door, or in some cases, a restroom, and that just seems like not the right thing that we should be doing,” Pendley said. “Also I would like a laundry facility because one of the things that we work hard to support students with is uniform issues and a laundry facility would allow us to meet those needs quickly and efficiently.”
Pendley isn’t sure if the school and community will decide on a full rebuild, similar to the one granted to HMS earlier this year, or select additional renovations. According to Pendley, he will plan multiple community input sessions and gather feedback from surveys to ensure everyone in the community gets a say in what they believe needs to be done with the building.
“I love our current building and its architecture, however, personally, I am leaning toward a full renovation. Based on the information available, our school would need significant modifications in order to be compliant with the ADA and to update spaces to meet the needs of 21st-century learners,” Pendley said. “That being said, we are talking about a building that will likely far outlive my career, and I firmly believe that the process and decision making should be driven by community and stakeholder input and not just my opinions.”
