Clear Creek Elementary School is on schedule to welcome students and staff at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year.
Charles Black Construction (CBC) has served as the construction manager at risk, and Allen Mauney has filled the role of project manager. CBC has handled subcontractors and deadlines, and crews have been fortunate to not hit any major snags during the pandemic, which has often strained supply.
“Gilmer County has been lucky on two points,” Mauney said. “We’ve had very little problems with the supply chain. We just got underneath it. I mean it was perfect timing. We’ve had some glitches, and we may have some glitches before the end comes, but I’ve been really surprised.
“With these soil conditions, when it rains out here, it dries very quickly. We’ve been blessed by that, too.”
Construction on the new school located 5.5 miles out Yukon Road began in March of 2020, and Mauney discussed the latest progress.
“We’re trying to do everything we can do prior to putting the floors in,” he said. “Two of the main biggest things we’ve done recently is put down the wood floor in the gymnasium and getting the outside ready.”
The interior of the school is 84,370 square feet and features 42 instructional units. The core elements of the school are housed in the center of the building and include administrative offices, the media center, cafeteria and kitchen, gym and the music and art rooms.
Classrooms are grouped in “neighborhoods” and flank the aforementioned core elements.
“These classroom neighborhoods are where you have four classrooms together,” said Breaux & Associates Architects principal architect Douglas Breaux during a tour in late-May. “We cut the corner at the diagonal (for door instillation) and put extra glass and a skylight so even the interior classrooms get some daylight.
“If one teacher needs to leave, another teacher can monitor what’s going on in multiple classrooms from one spot.”
Both ends of the school have enough land to add eight additional classrooms if more space is needed in the future.
Mauney hopes to receive the certificate of occupancy by mid-June with construction to be completed by the end of the month.
“We want to turn the school over on June 31, Mauney said. “The state fire marshall will come out and do the inspection and will give Gilmer County the certificate of occupancy. That’s key to people being able to move into the building.”
In the coming weeks, crews will wrap-up the project with cleaning and touch-up work. The final phase will be the installation of kitchen equipment.
“This building is so pretty and it’s going to be such a nice facility for the students with the STEM lab, and all the extra bells and whistles after coming from a building that is so old and out of date at this point,” said superintendent Dr. Shanna Downs prior to her final day on the job May 28.
“It’s in a beautiful location, especially to serve this area of the county. Currently located in town, they serve that area already, so I think that will be nice to move back to more of a community-school feel.”