Etowah Campus Expansions Eases Overcrowding

From the Cherokee County School District:

The new Etowah East @ Chapman annex, formerly the home of Chapman Intermediate School, now is in use by Etowah High School students and staff and by the Cherokee County School District as a whole. 

With the opening of the replacement E.T. Booth Middle School for the 2013-14 school year and resulting expansion of that campus to grades 6-8, the Chapman campus no longer was needed to serve the innovation zone’s students in grades 5-6.  

The additional space has allowed for Etowah High School to ease overcrowding and for the district to develop a testing and professional development center in south Cherokee. 

In order to make this new use possible on the campus that was constructed in 1974, some rehabilitation work was needed, including: 

• Changes to wall configurations (“pod” structure replaced with more open design for labs);
• Installation of low-flow bathrooms fixtures in sizes to accommodate older students, as well as to conserve water usage and reduce utility costs;
• Installation of replacement light fixtures and air-conditioner diffusers to improve energy efficiency and reduce utility costs;
• Installation of replacement flooring where needed and interior painting; and,
• Installation of technology to serve the needs of programs housed at the campus.

In order to create a safe walkway for students and staff between Etowah East and the main Etowah campus, a covered, lighted walkway was installed, as was a speed table/plateau. Additionally, to allow for constant communication between the two campuses, an intercom system was installed.

“It has an amazing campus feel to it now,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Petruzielo said during a tour, which was held on Thursday for school board members and local media. “The maintenance staff has done a remarkable job – they never disappoint us.”

The rehabilitation cost of the 33,000-square-foot facility totaled about $150,000 using funds from the operating facility maintenance budget, with $450,000 in Education SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) funds used to upgrade wiring and install technology. 

Bobby Blount, assistant superintendent for accountability, technology and strategic planning, said Etowah East is a showplace for how technology is changing how schools operate – and look. 

“The big push is collaboration and preparing students for college and careers, and we’re designing for that… these spaces emulate what they’ll see in college and their careers,” Blount said.

Etowah High School Keith Ball said the project has realized the “dream of what you can do with technology,” noting that it’s also allowing more students to access popular programs, such as Architectural Design & Engineering, that were landlocked by traditional classroom size on the main campus. 

This semester, Etowah and the district, after gathering input from the school community, began joint use of Etowah East’s Building A:

• Four CTAE (Career, Technology and Agricultural Education) programs now are housed there: Air Force Junior ROTC – John D. White and Karen Allen; architectural design & engineering – Brandon Grummer; computer science – Linda Noss; and criminal justice – Billie Morgan.
• An Etowah - school district testing and professional development center is housed in a portion of the lower level.  Space is reserved using an internal online calendar.
• The Etowah – district Virtual Collaboration Center (formerly the media center) also can be reserved using an internal online calendar.
• The World Language Lab currently is participating in a free trial of interactive software that can be used for daily instruction, voice recording, differentiated and individualized instruction, and to administer the Advanced Placement (AP) Exam.  This software captures the testing information and it is directly uploaded based on the specific criteria set by the College Board.
• Etowah's wrestling program, which this year earned the highest state rank in the school’s history (fifth in Georgia; regional champions), now is permanently housed in Etowah East Gym. 
• Etowah East athletic fields now are home to the Etowah Lacrosse Program, which is the largest in CCSD with Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity and Junior Varsity teams.  The 2012-13 Boys’ Varsity team made it to the State Final Four.
• Parking lots at Etowah East have relieved parking congestion on the main Etowah campus, eliminating the student parking pass waiting list for the first time in the school’s history.

Plans are underway for the 2014-15 school year to begin use of Etowah East’s Building B. Plans to house several programs there could completely eliminate the use of mobile classrooms on the Etowah campus. Programs that may be relocated to 25 classrooms there include: World Language Department; and Interdisciplinary Consistency Teams across mathematics, English and social studies. 

Ball said Etowah East’s innovative use of technology and the planned relocation and expansion of space for the World Language Department fulfills the school’s goal of creating “future-friendly schools” that promote student mastery of technology and world languages. Etowah High offers the most world languages in the School District, with Spanish, French, German and Mandarin Chinese.  

School Board Chair Janet Read, whose children attended classes at both Chapman Intermediate and Etowah High School, said she appreciates the effort put into the successful reuse of the facility, “not only as a school board member and a parent, but as a taxpayer.”

Read said her sons, who now are both in college, would not recognize the former Chapman Intermediate’s interiors, as the changes have transformed its appearance and potential.  She noted the facility is a great addition to the Etowah High campus, which is the School District’s largest. 

“Etowah gets you ready for college,” she said with a laugh, noting not only is the school’s instruction rigorous and course options varied, but its size also prepares students for walking a university-size campus.