Education Edition - 1736 Magazine, Fall 2019

More documents

Info

“It was a very depressed, declining area,” Richmond County Schools Communications Coordinator Melanie Lumpkin said. “It’s almost like you’re on a college campus now.” Across Laney-Walker Boulevard, the entire A.R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering Magnet School was rebuilt from the ground up, including a new gymnasium. Construction was done in two phases so school would not be disrupted. “It’s a very important school to the system,” Baker said. “If you’ve been there, it’s a beautiful health science and engineering magnet school.” Closer to downtown Augusta, at the John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, one of the state’s highestperforming high schools, a multi-phase renovation plan includes the construction of a six-classroom addition. The old Craig-Houghton Elementary School building on Fourth Street near the historic Olde Town neighborhood now houses the school district’s Cyber Academy of Excellence. The program was moved this year from the Richmond County Technical Career Magnet School in south Augusta to be closer to downtown’s Georgia Cyber Center complex, where several of the district’s students attend cybersecurity classes through a dual-enrollment program offered by Augusta Technical College. In east Augusta, a new Hornsby Elementary School was constructed off Sand Bar Ferry Road in 2007 to replace the older school on Laney-Walker Boulevard. Savings from ESPLOST construction and renovation projects that came in under budget during the past two decades have been funneled into additional projects, including the construction of the ESPLOST IN THE URBAN CORE In 1997 Georgia enabled communities to fund school infrastructure expenses through a 1-cent educational specialpurpose local-option sales tax, or ESPLOST. Richmond County voters have since approved five ESPLOST referendums. Below is a list of improvements made to the district’s inner-city schools during each referendum: PHASE I (1997-2002) School Project Investment Academy of Richmond County Age-related interior and exterior renovations $6.3 million T.W. Josey High General renovations; 10 new classrooms $4 million Murphey Middle General renovations; 16 new classrooms; new gym $4.5 million Tubman Middle Vocational wing renovations; two-story addition with five new classrooms $4.5 million C.T. Walker Magnet New gym $436,000 Craig-Houghton Elementary New school (consolidation of Peter H. Craig $7.7 million and Houghton elementary schools) Jenkins-White Elementary New school (consolidation of Levi White $7.9 million and Clara Jenkins elementary schools) John Milledge Elementary Roof replacement $180,000 Joseph Lamar Elementary General renovations; six new classrooms; new gym $1.8 million East Augusta Middle Technology upgrades; new gym $549,000 Monte Sano Elementary Roof replacement $200,000 Wilkinson Gardens Elementary Substantial renovations and addition $6.8 million Central Administration Office Relocation to 864 Broad St. $15.3 million (surplus savings funds) PHASE II (2002-2007) Academy of Richmond County New roof; gym renovation $900,000 A.R. Johnson Health Science New school $17.2 million and Engineering Magnet Lucy C. Laney High New athletic complex $13.5 million T.W. Josey High New gym and HVAC; general site work $4.3 million C.T. Walker Magnet Substantial renovations; 18 new classrooms $10 million W.S. Hornsby K-8 New school (replacing East Augusta Middle); $17 million substantial renovations to former East Augusta building Monte Sano Elementary General renovations; new classrooms, kitchen, cafeteria and gym $6.3 million 38 | 1736magazine.com 1117_T_34_AM____.indd 38 10/16/2019 1:47:54 PM
K-8 Freedom Park School at Fort Gordon and the renovation of the Wilkinson Gardens Elementary School in south Augusta. Considering the poor shape the county’s schools were in nearly 25 years ago – the district once had as many as 280 “portable” classroom buildings – Baker views the fivephase ESPLOST project as a success. “We’re already talking about what phase six will look like,” Baker said. “In 1997, we had a lot of schools that were 40 years old. Now they’re 63 years old. We’ve got to change our focus because you can’t put any more money into a 63-year-old school.” More than 80 tracts of blighted residential property between Lucy C. Laney High School and nearby C.T. Walker Elementary School were acquired to construct a nearly 9,000-seat sports stadium, partly using education sales tax dollars collected since 1997. [SPECIAL] PHASE III (2007-2012) Academy of Richmond County New track; International Baccalaureate classroom additions; $7.2 million additional gym renovations A.R. Johnson New gym; major auditorium renovations $6.5 million Lucy C. Laney High New gym $5.5 million T.W. Josey High New track; new stadium fieldhouse $2 million Tubman Educational Center Substantial renovations $10.2 million C.T. Walker Magnet Roofing and HVAC upgrades $600,000 Lamar-Milledge Elementary New school (merger of John Milledge and $13 million Joseph Lamar elementary schools) W.S. Hornsby K-8 Substantial renovations $6 million PHASE IV (2012-2017) Academy of Richmond County Substantial renovations to interior rooms and outdoor fields $8 million A.R. Johnson Addition of 6th grade classroom wing and engineering lab $3 million John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet Miscellaneous interior general renovations; $2 million parking and drainage improvements Lucy C. Laney High Classroom replacements; substantial kitchen, cafeteria and $23 million gym renovations; entrance-exit upgrades T.W. Josey High General renovations to media and athletic centers $5.5 million roof replacement; HVAC and wiring upgrades Murphey Middle Relocated next to T.W. Josey High $16 million C.T. Walker Magnet Miscellaneous renovations to media center $1 million general site improvements Wilkinson Gardens Elementary Roof upgrades $850,000 PHASE V (2017-2022) Academy of Richmond County General renovations to auditorium $18 million substantial 34-classroom addition; new roof A.R. Johnson Six-classroom addition $2.4 million additional auditorium parking John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet Six-classroom addition; specialty classroom addition; $10.7 million general auditorium renovations; roof upgrade Lucy C. Laney High General renovations; new HVAC; addition of second gym $900,000 T.W. Josey High New Marion Barnes Skilled Trades Center; $8.3 million baseball and football field improvements C.T. Walker Magnet General renovations; new HVAC $2.8 million Murphey Middle Gym renovations; field improvements $3.7 million (estimated) Source: Richmond County School System; GMK Associates 1736magazine.com | 39 1117_T_34_AM____.indd 39 10/25/2019 12:16:09 PM
Page 1 and 2: FALL 2019 EDUCATION EDITION THE REV
Page 4 and 5: MAGAZINE PARTNERS 1117_T_02_AM____.
Page 6 and 7: PICTURE THIS 4 | 1736magazine.com 1
Page 8 and 9: OUR VIEW RAISE W.S. Hornsby Element
Page 10 and 11: 1117_T_08_AM____.indd 8 10/25/2019
Page 12 and 13: OTHER VOICES Jimmy Atkins, chairman
Page 14 and 15: 1117_T_12_AM____.indd 12 10/25/2019
Page 16 and 17: 14 | 1736magazine.com 1117_T_13_AM_
Page 18 and 19: Volunteer Kory Futreal helps studen
Page 20 and 21: ABOVE: Tiny bok choy plants begin t
Page 22 and 23: 1117_T_20_AM____.indd 20 10/25/2019
Page 24 and 25: COVER STORY continued from 18 “We
Page 26 and 27: COVER STORY continued from 22 year
Page 28 and 29: 1117_T_26_AM____.indd 26 10/30/2019
Page 30 and 31: COVER STORY continued from 24 An ex
Page 32 and 33: 18 1. Monte Sano Elementary School
Page 34 and 35: 1117_T_32_AM____.indd 32 10/25/2019
Page 36 and 37: Building for the Future SALES TAX F
Page 38 and 39: Just east of ARC, at the former Tub
Page 42 and 43: UP CLOSE READY FOR SCHOOL Bradshaw
Page 44 and 45: Richmond County School Superintende
Page 46 and 47: Different by CHOICE FAITH-BASED, IN
Page 48 and 49: Grandparents mingle with students d
Page 50 and 51: COLUMBIA COUNTY Downtown in the SUB
Page 52 and 53: Fortunately, the county was able to
Page 54 and 55: An artist rendering depicts a fully
Page 56 and 57: COLUMBIA COUNTY Hot in Harlem City
Page 58 and 59: Harlem City Manager C. Brett Cook s
Page 60 and 61: A mural paying homage to the comedi
Page 62 and 63: You throw 50,000 people around Harl
Page 64 and 65: An artist rendering depicting a wes
Page 66 and 67: The historic train depot at 6th and
Page 68 and 69: MACK continued from 21 Mack had res
Page 70 and 71: OTHER VOICES WORK STUDY Business, e
Page 72 and 73: Over the past few years, the Distri
Page 74 and 75: DOWNTOWN PARKING ‘SMART’ PARKIN
Page 76 and 77: SALES TAX-FUNDED STREET PROJECTS PR
Page 78 and 79: BURNS continued from 19 “This sch
Page 80 and 81: SPIVEY continued from 23 Although S
Page 82 and 83: BRIEFINGBy DAMON CLINE HITS & MISSE
Page 84 and 85: GRADING DOWNTOWN 6.5 5.5 6.5 2.0 By
Page 86: 1117_T_84_AM____.indd 84 10/25/2019

Education Edition - 1736 Magazine, Fall 2019

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?