Eastside gym finally complete

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Tenn.)

Construction of Eastside Elementary School’s building addition was completed Friday. The brick portion of the building used to house the school’s gym but now contains 12 classrooms.

After months of delays, the building addition at Eastside Elementary is all but complete as the state fire marshal granted a temporary certificate of occupancy Friday.

“We’re glad to see construction come to an end so we can put our entire focus where it belongs, on the education of our children,” said principal Michael Trevathan.

The largest part of Eastside’s $1.3 million building project has been constructing a new gymnasium and remodeling the old gym into 12 additional classrooms. Other features include a new main office complex and foyer, new bathrooms and new storage closets.

Eastside is the last of the community schools to receive the building additions the Warren County School Board authorized for the five schools in 1995. The addition, especially the new classrooms, is particularly needed at the school, which for the past couple of years has been the fastest growing school in the county. Last year, six of the school’s 25 regular classrooms were in portable buildings.

Delays and discrepancies have plagued construction since it began last year. Originally, plans had the gym being finished by last October, in time for basketball season, and the new classrooms by last December. Project architect Jim Armstrong told the School Board in recent months reasons for the delays include problems the fire marshal found with his plans, causing him to re-submit them numerous times. Also to blame, he said, were changes made to the fire code itself.

While the fire marshal has verbally issued a temporary occupancy permit, meaning the students and teachers can move into the new classrooms, it will still be a couple of weeks before all the new classrooms are completely settled, said Trevathan.

“We’re going to move in gradually,” he said. “We still have several touch-up things we need to do – stripping and waxing the floors, and moving desks, books and other teaching materials into the rooms. I’d like to see all classes settled by the week we return from Labor Day.”

Until then, two third-grade classes have been forced to share a single classroom, as have two fifth-grade classes. Additionally, some classes are still being held in the portable buildings due to lack of space. Trevathan said these classes will be among the first to move into the new addition.

Of the three double-wide portable buildings currently on Eastside grounds, one will be disposed of. The other two will be kept and used for storage and for child care, art, music and band classes.

Trevathan said an open house for students, parents and community members will be held at the school after the addition is completely furnished and settled, hopefully before the end of September.