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Grantville Elementary School dedicated

Teachers, Grantville citizens and dignitaries gathered at the site of the new Grantville Elementary School Friday, to dedicate the building before the new school year begins.

Grantville Principal Carole Criswell and School Superintendent Dr. Peggy Connell welcomed the crowd, and School Board Chairman Rick Melville led the assembly in an act of dedication, before the ribbon was cut on the 94,000-square foot, $7.2 million school on U.S. Highway 29.

Criswell, who was chosen last spring to serve as Grantville’s Þrst principal, recognized the school’s teaching staff, who attended the dedication ceremony, and particularly recognized Grantville’s PTO parents, including PTO President Traci Segraves, who have worked diligently with her to plan for the school’s opening and Þrst year. Superintendent Peggy Connell recognized Coweta County School Board members, and thanked Senator Mitch Seabaugh and members of Coweta’s Legislative Delegation, who helped secure $2.6 million in funding for the new school. “In January, we were not sure we were going to have a school ready by now,” said Connell, who noted that foundational footings were Þrst poured for the new school only in January, and that the building has been built and is being Þnished in time for the new school year, “and it is a beautiful school.”

Connell thanked Ann Wilson, of Southern A&E architects, for her design of the Grantville Elementary. The school follows a design reminiscent of traditional brick schools and differs from recent elementary school designs. Connell also thanked the project’s construction manager, Arco Builder, and its President, Hoke Archer, and general contractor MWC Construction for the “extraordinary work” done to complete Grantville. Board Chairman Rick Melville also thanked school system Operation Director Coy Mills for his stewardship over the project.

“This school is very personal to me,” said Board member Rick Melville, who has family ties to Grantville. “The people of Grantville will have more and better opportunities for their children than ever before because of this school.”

“Congratulation Coweta County. Congratulations City of Grantville,” said Grantville City Manager Doug Bennett. Bennett, who is a former Coweta County school system administrator, has, along with all of the City of Grantville, worked closely with the school system in developing the new school.

Senator Mitch Seabaugh asked the parents, teacher and community to let the school serve as a symbol that “we should all work as a team “to work as a team for the education of children.”

Coweta County Commissioner Greg Tarbutton said that the Mayor of Grantville, the Coweta County school board “who have worked so hard on this deserve a lot of credit for bring a school back to Grantville.” The new Grantville school is the Þrst operating school in Grantville since 1993, when the older Grantville Brown Elementary School closed. The building, which sits directly behind the new school, now serves as the regional headquarters for West Georgia RESA. The older Grantville Public School serves as Grantville’s municipal complex. Noting the short building schedule, Chairman Melville said that the school system had contingency plans in case the school could not open by August 6.

“On behalf of the Board and the City of Grantville, thank you, thank you, thank you,” Melville told the project’s managers. Melville thanked current Grantville Mayor Billy Tucker for his help, and also thanked former Major John Houston. Melville said that, though he knew when he Þrst came on the board that Grantville needed a school, it was Houston who contacted him and showed him the growth coming so quickly to the south Coweta city. “John Houston was the match that started this Þre,” he said.

Melville also recognized parent Elizabeth Ridgeway. Ridgeway was a Grantville parent who attended a town hall meeting in Grantville last year and urged the school board to build a new school on the site. Melville said she pledged to hold bake sales, rafßes, and any other efforts necessary to get the school built, “and that told me volumes about how committed the people of Grantville were to this project.”

After the dedication and ribbon-cutting, the Grantville School PTO hosted a reception in the cafeteria. Grantville Elementary School will be different than other elementary schools built in Coweta County over the last 10 years. The 24-classroom building follows a new site plan, and a new architectural plan that hearkens back to more a more traditional school appearance. The school includes a central building for ofÞces media center, cafeteria and other functions, and three outlying wings that include classrooms and a multi-purpose/PE room. The school will also be outÞtted with a computer lab, art room and music room. The site is also designed to allow for future classroom wing additions that will allow the school to grow up to about 800 students.

“This facility is designed totally different from the schools built at Willis Road, Arbor Springs and Poplar Road,” said Buster James, Coweta County Schools’ construction coordinator. “This is the Þrst one we are building with an old-fashioned design, with a much more traditional look Even the cafeteria is being built as an old-fashioned cafetorium, with a stage that will allow for school plays and functions.” James said the school will include a more attractive interior painting scheme that will have multiple colors and accent painting in classrooms, and themed murals inside. Grantville’s theme will be based around trains and historic railroad stations.

The students who will attend Grantville in the fall attended Moreland Elementary School last year. The opening of the new school is expected to eliminate the need for most or all of the mobile classrooms used at the Moreland school. The district was drawn by a 10-person parent committee, and accepted by the Board of Education in March.

Coweta County Board of Education Chairman Rick Melville introduces Grantville parent Elizabeth Ridgeway, at the dedication of the new 94,000 square-foot Grantville Elementary School Friday. Both are wearing their “Grantville Gators” T-shirts to show school spirit for ribbon-cutting and dedicatory ceremony, held at 9 a.m. at the school on U.S. Highway 29. Photo/Special.