Schools

New Booth Middle Will Have "High School Feel"

The new facility, which will open to students on Aug. 5, is slated to welcome over 1,600 students.

When classes resume in early August, the Cherokee County School District will open its largest middle school facility. 

The school district hosted a sneak peek at the replacement E.T. Booth Middle School facility Thursday morning on Eagle Mountain.

School leaders initially thought they'd have to wait to open the new facility in January 2014 as the district learned subcontractor Thompson Grading allegedly violated the Davis Bacon Act of 1931, which mandates subcontractors working on federally funded projects pay their laborers and mechanics no less than local prevailing wages and benefits for work in similar projects in the area. 

Designed by Manley, Spangler and Smith Architects, the school building is 223,856 square feet. 

Dr. Brian Hightower, assistant superintendent of school operations, said the school will have a "high school feel" as it will accommodate over 1,600 students once it opens for classes on Aug. 5. 

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Booth is slated to have 1,621 students — 523 sixth-grade, 528 seventh-grade and 570 eighth-grade students — once classes resume. 

Booth will be complete with 95 instructional units including classrooms that all feature smart boards, computers and additional technology; computer labs; art and music rooms; a media center; gymnasium and a cafetorium.  

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The new building will be a welcome addition to the Etowah zone as the old 32-year-old facility was designed to hold 600 students, half of the entire student body at the school. 

While the school had a slew of portable classrooms outside the old facility, the school's hallways, restrooms, cafeteria and gym were all too small and created overcrowding conditions and scheduling challenges for school administration. 

Manhattan Construction Company is the construction contractor for the project.

Booth will open with a sixth- through eighth-grade configuration, bringing it in line with the district's other middle schools. 

The community will soon be able to see for its walk-through is slated for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. July 25, and residents will be able to participate in self-guided walk-throughs of the facility. 

Also on hand will be bricks the district will preserve from the old Booth Middle School if residents are interested in collecting a piece of the former school building's history.

A walk-through/open house event for parents, students and staff will be held on Aug. 2.

Demolition of the former E.T. Booth Middle School facility is underway and be completed by late fall. The bricks and mortar from the building will be recycled into a gravel base for parking areas. 

The neighboring former Chapman Intermediate School building will be renovated to open in January 2014 as a school district Online Testing Facility and Etowah High School Annex, where programs such as Junior ROTC, architectural design and a proposed new health occupations class and lab will be offered.  

A newly-designed walkway is currently under construction to ensure safe passage by students from Etowah’s main campus to the Annex.

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