APS proposes spending over $90 million to ease Grady cluster crowding

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by jeoff

Does this mean that they think the Druid Hills Annexation is unlikely? Or, is it already dead?

Doubtful, this has to be done regardless.

[JoeTarheel]

The most desirable schools in the system are always the most overcrowded. I guess the best course of action would be to somehow improve the others to make them more desirable. Anybody have any ideas on how to do that?

[bu2]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

APS proposes spending over $90 million to ease Grady cluster crowding

Main take away:

• Grady Expansion: $22 Mil. for 18 Classrooms and 3 Labs; $11 Mil. for additional upgrades / repairs
• Howard Middle School: $52 Mil. for renovation and an additional 25 Classrooms.
• Walden campus Athletic Fields: $8 Mil. for turning property into practice fields for Grady cluster schools.
• Inman Elementary School: $0 Mil. Simply turn Inman into Elem. School

I like this plan overall. It's not a 9th grade academy, and reactivates a large, and historically significant property as an institution of learning.

There will be resistance to changing Inman into an Elem. school, but I think it's pretty much necessary at this point.

I'm supper happy to see Grady getting upgrades out of this. Maybe they can get rid of those awful trailers. Actually, I hope all the schools can get rid of their trailers. Really, they're just horrid things being made to far outlast their intended uses.

$52 million sounds like a lot. They tore down Fernbank ES and are rebuilding it completely as a 900 student school for $26 million on a difficult site.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by whodean

Would that fix Inman?. Doubt it.

Well it would empty out Mary Lin. Then Mary Lin could be closed and used as a middle school.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by bu2

$52 million sounds like a lot. They tore down Fernbank ES and are rebuilding it completely as a 900 student school for $26 million on a difficult site.

Given the historical nature of Howard, a teardown/rebuild isn't happening (though in many cases, it would be cheaper than renovating).

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Given the historical nature of Howard, a teardown/rebuild isn't happening (though in many cases, it would be cheaper than renovating).

At my parent's school it was so old they kept up the main entrance but tore down everything else. Keep up that front entrance, but tear down the rest if it is cheaper. They are going to have to gut any school that old anyway and make lots of compromises. They will have to seal the asbestos and deal with all the lead paint everywhere. Being Atlanta, they've probably got mold issues. Spending massively more (I'm assuming it costs a lot more to renovate) for a less satisfactory result just to keep a few old bricks up doesn't make sense.