Clarke Middle School Local Building Committee members met on Oct. 20 with Clarke County School District administrators to begin planning for the construction of the CMS building. “A building committee has been formed, and (CMS Local School Governance Team) members will be a part of that committee, and we’ve talked about (the CMS building) at a couple different meetings over the past year, trying to plan for it (and) learn as much as we can about the process,” CMS LBC and LSGT member Matt Pruitt said. “Even our most recent meeting, we heard from the district about how that process will work, and how they’ll gather to the inputs for the rebuild process or for the new construction process.” Photo by Elena Webber
Clarke County School District administrators and Clarke Middle School building committee members have been working to plan the rebuild or renovation of the CMS building.
The CMS Local Building Committee met on Oct. 20 to discuss the architectural plans with CCSD administrators, and according to Board of Education District Three Representative Linda Davis, a member of the BOE Property Committee, this is just the beginning of the process.
“(LBC meetings) is where this actually will come into fruition as they look (plans) under the guidance of architects that the district hires and the board approves. There will be meetings to gather information about what the needs are for the community, architects will then come back with a design,” Davis said. “They will weigh that design against the current facility, and they’ll make decisions based on whether or not the current facility can be modified to meet the needs of the community, or if they need to build a brand new facility.”
According to the CCSD BOE November SPLOST Report, in their Oct. 20 meeting the CMS LBC was working to determine whether the construction would be a renovation or full rebuild using the rule that if the renovation is 70-80% of the cost of a rebuild then they will opt to rebuild. CMS LBC and Local School Governance Team member Matt Pruitt believes a rebuild would better suit the community both financially and equitably.
“We’ve had people from the district come talk about renovation versus rebuild because (the CMS) building is so old and has so many issues, it would really be more cost-effective just to build a new building.”
— Matt Pruitt,
CMS LBC and Local School Governance Team member
“One of the biggest (reasons a rebuild is better) is it’s more cost-effective. In some of these meetings that we’ve had for the LSGT, we’ve had people from the district come talk about renovation versus rebuild because (the CMS) building is so old and has so many issues, it would really be more cost-effective just to build a new building,” Pruitt said. “I do think just kind of in keeping with what’s going on in the rest of the county, the other middle schools, just from a kind of equity standpoint (it would also be better to rebuild), and I just don’t know that the issues could be fixed, at least not in any sort of long term fashion (with renovation).”
With the second CMS LBC meeting set for sometime in November, Pruitt is pleased by the amount of community input that will be taken into consideration during the process and is excited to see what will come.
“I think we have great leadership in the building in Chris Pendley, and he is taking this process seriously, and I think that we will get lots of opportunities for community involvement and community input,” Pruitt said. “Again, I do think that’s important, and one of the elements of the process that I’ve been most impressed with because I didn’t know how it worked before now, how you went about deciding when and where and how to build a new school. I just think it’s gonna be a real community endeavor, and that’s the way it should be.”
