“We’re still on schedule,” said Calhoun City Schools Superintendent Michelle Taylor. “They’re actually putting the lobby stairwell in today. It’s exciting to see that. The cafeteria already has some paint and the stairwell. It’s just coming along.”
Taylor said the plan remains to have students in the new building by Spring Break.
“That has gotten everyone excited that we are moving along as fast as we are,” Taylor said.
Once the new school is operational, Calhoun Middle School students will move into the old high school building and construction will begin on a new middle school.
The middle school should be done around February or 2014.
“Once the students get in the high school, the middle school teachers will have a time period to move things into the old high school and then as quickly as we can we’ll have a surplus sale and move forward with taking down the older buildings.
The eighth grade wings and middle school gyms will remain on the property.
Having the new schools built on the same property as the old ones was important, Taylor said, because the district wanted to keep the schools in downtown.
“It’s kept our schools downtown and close to our athletic facilities,” she said. “And certainly we feel like Calhoun High School has been the hub of downtown and where it needs to stay.
“The beauty of this phased project is that we have not had to bring in any mobile buildings,” she said. “The students have been in a classroom and the instruction has not been impeded by the construction. That’s been very good that we have not had to relocate the students.”
Taylor knows transitioning students around into the new building will be a bit of a challenge, but she said it was necessary for the flow of construction.
“We really did need to go ahead and transition before the school year ended because they need to tear down the middle school and keep working, otherwise we would have some delays is phase two,” she said. “If it works out that we are able to add the second week of the move to Spring Break, that will be very beneficial.”
There are remarkable wooden structures built nearly 1,000 years ago but are still in everyday use in parts of China even today.
Unlike city school buildings, these bridges were built by master craftsmen during the Ming and Southern Song dynasties, at a time which stretches back to 1127. The bridges have been listed as one of the state's key cultural relics worth protecting.
Old? More secure? Oh longandshort,keep your chin up - both of them!