GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guilford County Schools' (GCS') promise of progress is a dream coming true -- the passing of the ultimate final exam -- for the Triad's third-largest district.
The $2 billion bond project to revamp GCS is well underway with six schools set to reopen a year from this fall. One of them is Claxton Elementary, where the high-tech structure matches high-energy spaces the old building never had.
In the continuation of WFMY News 2's Build Smart 2Gether series, Good Morning Show anchor Meghann Mollerus and videographer Sean Higgins visited the construction site and found a palpable community-driven call for change.
BEST-IN-CLASS
"This is it!" smiled Claxton Elementary principal Kevin Thoma, as he gave Mollerus a tour of his future home away from home.
It is a clean slate for GCS. Each brick etches an outline to make Claxton Elementary best-in-class.
"I don't think the kids realize what they're getting yet. I think they've heard they were getting a gym, but something like this is really, really going to be exciting for them," Thoma emphasized as he showed off the school's sprawling gymnasium, a feature the previous building lacked.
Thoma is a GCS alumnus-turned-Claxton teacher, then principal since 2020. He saw how Claxton's 1960 framework was failing.
"Our HVAC systems. Those were regular calls to come out to fix. Leaking roofs. We had, many times, buckets through the hallways. A lot of the times, when someone has to come out and fix something, there's pounding on the roof, there's 'I gotta move this classroom over here, so something can get fixed over there,'" he explained.
Students, too, were feeling the fatigue of constant fixing.
"It was really, really hot," recalled rising fourth-grader Raylan.
She and her PTA-serving mom, Stephanie Hawkins, also walked the site with Mollerus and were thrilled to see progress, after two years in makeshift classrooms at nearby Jesse Wharton elementary.
"Each time we encounter a new challenge with the transition, we just remind ourselves -- it's sort of a running joke -- we only have to do this one more year, until we're all under the same roof again," Hawkins said.
FUNDING THE FUTURE
In the last two general elections, voters passed two capital bonds totaling $2 billion ($300 million in 2020 and $1.7 million in 2022) to rebuild and rehab 44 schools (22 rebuilds, 19 renovations and three add-ons) and construct seven new ones (including teardowns).
Six schools, including Claxton, have fall 2024 finish lines.
Claxton's rebuild price tag initially was $31 million, though Guilford Co. commissioners approved $19 million more in January for higher-than-expected estimates.
"We had some inflation costs, especially coming out of COVID," said construction team leader Clarence Satchell, who is contractor Samet Corporation's superintendent II for this project.
GREENSBORO ROOTS
For Satchell, the project is personal.
"Aggie pride!"
As an NC A&T State University alumnus and father of two, Satchell thinks the project's return on investment is priceless for the western Guilford community it serves.
He believes the school is second-to-none in the state, and he has witnessed the community's collective excitement.
"It means the world. This structure is gorgeous. It's top technology. The ability to have four- to - 500 kids in this place in the next year or so is pretty awesome, and to be able to have my child possibly come to this school means even more to me," he smiled.
STATE-OF-THE-ART
It also means the vision of architect Doug Kuhns, with Raleigh-based SFL+A Architects, is becoming concrete.
"These balconies are collaboration areas. This school is very open-plan," he described, as he walked through the future atrium.
The 94,406-square-foot structure is partly under roof, even with mother nature under the weather. It was raining heavily when Mollerus and Higgins toured the site, yet crews did not appear discouraged. Even with the unknowns of hurricane season and winter ahead, Kuhns said he is confident students will be seated at their new desks by fall of 2024.
"We're in very good shape," he emphasized.
Inside, the school will boast state-of-the-art technology, entirely-mobile furniture and indoor-outdoor classrooms, where ample green space underscores a go-green effort.
"The power bill is the most expensive part in running the schools. The more efficient your building is reducing that demand, reduces the overall bill," Kuhns explained.
SAFETY FIRST
He also acknowledged parents demand something money can't buy -- safety. That is why the school's main entry features a spacious, contained waiting area, where guests cannot access the school without first going to the office.
"The classroom wing will be isolated from the rest of the school, so if there is a lockdown, these doors close by a panic button in the reception," Kuhns explained.
He believes the plan leaves no stone unturned, building the best for bright minds.
"I envision smiles across the board and the jaw-dropping 'awe' of families and students walking in and seeing what they have," Thoma said.
What they will have is what Thoma hopes they will hold dear...for generations to come.
LOGISTICS
Both Kuhns and Satchell believe the project will meet its projected summer 2024 deadline, likely finishing in July and allowing some pad time before school starts in late August that year.
Thoma touts high teacher retention at Claxton and expects most of the current staff to transition to the new building. He has not yet started hiring for new positions.
Claxton is a traditional K-8 elementary school, not a magnet, so only students who live in the district's Claxton boundaries -- or receive approval for reassignment -- will attend the new school. Claxton students who currently are in the makeshift classrooms at Jesse Wharton Elementary School and Kernodle Middle School will not have the option to stay at those schools, except for rising sixth-graders who already are zoned for Kernodle.
MONITORING PHASE TWO
As construction continues on Phase One, and crews work against the clock to meet their deadlines, planning for the more expansive -- and more expensive -- Phase Two is already underway. GCS Superintendent, Whitney Oakley, Ed.D, said the first Phase Two projects in design will be Sumner Elementary, Swann 6-12 School, Lindley Elementary, Northwood Elementary, Shadybrook Elementary, the new Northwest Guilford Middle School replacement project, Joyner Elementary, Vandalia Elementary and Bessemer Elementary Schools.
"We’ll begin the design phase (for Phase Two). That takes about a year. Remember, the whole time is about two and a half years, so as we’re entering design, it’ll be about a year out before we see the ground breaking, the dirt moving," Oakley explained.
Oakley emphasized in addition to the two phases of the project, every GCS school -- meaning all 126 with 70,000 students and 9,800 employees -- will get upgraded safety and technology.
TRACKING PROGRESS
To foster trust and transparency with parents throughout the building process, GCS launched a bond dashboard for the first set of projects getting underway. School by school, it outlines the project cost, construction status and estimated opening date.