Berrien unveils new school

July 25, 2008 02:25 am

— NASHVILLE — Berrien County has a new elementary school.
On Thursday, the Berrien County School System held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new third through fifth grade elementary school.
The 94,000-square-foot school has 53 classrooms, with each grade occupying a separate wing. Located on Tifton Road, the new school is adjacent to Berrien Middle School.
Principal Angie Lovein opened the ceremony by thanking everyone who helped contribute to the building of the school.
She went on to say that current Superintendent Mike Bochenko made sure every decision made concerning the school was student-centered while former superintendent Bobby Griffin helped get the project off the ground.
“In a time of significant budget cuts, the Board of Education still found a way to make it happen. They always came up with a solution,” Lovein said.
The school has received all new furniture and will have Smartboards in each classroom. The student enrollment for fall will be around 700.
Lovein paid special thanks to Facilities Director Robby Dasher.
“He built this school as if he was building it for his own children,” Lovein said. “He was definitely the driving force behind the construction of the school.”
Guests and students will enter through the front door, and all classroom doors open up on the inside, a cost saving and security saving element of the design, Dasher said.
“The design also allows for easy expansion, we can put on a wing and tie it into the structure without reconfiguring hallways or electrical wires, Bochenko said.
BOE Chairman Mike Pitts said that after construction of the high school was completed, the board began addressing the needs of the entire system.
The plans were put in motion to build two new schools, one for Pre-K through second grade and the other for the third, fourth and fifth grades.
“From design to conception the whole process has been smooth,” Pitts said. “Plus we are under budget by $60,000.”
A September 2005 referendum for SPLOST funding and advanced funding from the State of Georgia helped finance the almost $10 million project.
These things kept the county from increasing property taxes, Pitts said.
“By next year we will have some of the finest facilities in South Georgia,” Pitts said.
The Pre-K through second grade school is scheduled to open in fall 2009.
The school, through the help of the Nashville City Council also received a reimbursement of $250,000 from the Georgia Department of Transportation for the paving of the parking lot and elementary drive-way, Dasher said.
The future of the old elementary school is currently up in the air though some local organizations have expressed a desire to open and maintain a community and senior service center there, Bochenko said.

Photos

Paul Leavy/The Valdosta Daily Times