Two local men are breathing new life into Oakland Elementary School, which closed in 2011. They plan to highlight its historical impact to the community, while converting the space into a climate-controlled storage facility.
“There’s been a school on that site for over 100 years,” GCSS Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley said. “It’s been a landmark of the community, and a lot of people went there. Their kids went there. They’re very attached to it. It was really disappointing for a lot of the community when they had to close [the school].”
A GCSS press release stated that Oakland Elementary, located at 8264 Hwy. 52 along the Cartecay River, had to close 14 years ago due to budgetary restraints. The building has been used as storage for the district and occasionally as a training site for the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office.
In the past few years, vandals and squatters have reportedly caused some considerable damage to it. Ridley said, “it’s a continuing expense for us. At this point, we’re not only having to carry the expense of maintaining it, but we’re also having to spend a good bit of resources on trying to protect it.”
Brothers-in-law Jason Smith, who was a student at Oakland, and Keith Sumner offered to purchase the property and rehabilitate it for use as a climate-controlled storage facility. The Gilmer County Board of Education voted unanimously to accept the purchase.
“They want to do something that respects the heritage of the building,” Ridley said. “This puts it to good use. It cleans it up, it preserves the history, and it’s in the hands of somebody that cares.”
Their project will include improving the outside appearance of the building and converting the entrance into an area dedicated to preserving its past, with artifacts and photos on display that pay homage to Oakland’s history.
“It was a pretty special place,” Smith recalled. “I went there from kindergarten to 7th grade, and I just have tons of great memories.”
Driving past it every day to get to work, he said he always thought about how much he would love to see something happen with the building again. When he heard the district potentially would have to tear it down, he got with Sumner to come up with their business plan.
Beyond his own memorabilia from being a student at Oakland, they intend to ask the community to donate items they would like to see showcased in their display cases.
Smith noted the school’s gym is in pretty good shape, and they hope to preserve it to host community events and allow people to rent it for various functions.
His goal was for all his children to enroll in the school he attended. “[The school] isn’t coming back, but it’s sat there empty all these years,” he said. “Now, maybe we can at least clean it up, and our community can be proud of the location again.”
Planning for the storage facility is still in its early stages. Sumner is a local builder who has completed a similar project with SafeTrust Storage along Boardtown Road. Finalizing the sale and completing the rezoning process is expected within the next couple months.
Ridley noted that the money from their offer will go into the GCSS general fund and be used to benefit the extensive list of facility upgrades the school district’s been working on.
“We’re taking a dead asset that’s really costing us money year over year and turning it into some resources that we can use to support the needs of the kids we have now,” Ridley said.