Despite being completed in 2014, Chamblee Charter High School will be getting a new addition in order to prepare for being a projected 518 students over capacity by 2022.
Currently the construction board, which is made up of the principal, school governance board chair, and two community leaders, is evaluating three plans, with construction set to begin in November 2018. The first plan involves buying the Chamblee Professional Building, near the bus lane off of Pierce Dr. and extending the academic building that way. In the second plan, Bulldog Plaza would be demolished and replaced with a new building. The final plan would extend the academic building adjacent to the Mendenhall St. and Chamblee-Dunwoody Rd. intersection. Both plans one and three involve replacing the current practice field with a parking lot and then elevating the practice field above the parking lot, while the second includes a parking deck on the current lot on Pierce Dr. All three plans involve adding additional kitchen space and renovating the interior for more cafeteria and media center space.
Although the three plans have been finalized, there is no date as to when the construction board will make their decision regarding which of the plans they wish to proceed with. The board presented the different plans to teachers the week of March 5 and has since asked for their opinions.
AP World History teacher Theresa Abernathy offered her thoughts on the new construction.
“[Construction] is extremely annoying,” said Abernathy. “We went through this very tedious process not that long ago, so I am definitely not looking forward to construction again.”
Sophomore Emery Wahlen seemed to echo Abernathy’s feelings towards construction.
“I do not know anything about the previous construction,” said Wahlen, “but I am annoyed that I will have to listen to a lot of construction noises while in class.”
Another sophomore, Isabelle Brown-Solar, seemed fine with the construction as long as her classes stay in the building and not placed in trailers as a result.
Sophomore Layla Dhabaan is not happy with the construction, but recognizes the necessity of a new building.
“I think the best idea would be plan one because the second and third plans would probably make it harder to travel around the school,” said Dhabaan, “especially to the fine arts building in plan two.”
In addition, Abernathy commented on which plan seems best fit for CCHS.
“I think plan one [would be most effective] because they [construction workers] can just build a new space and not really interfere with the school process, since it will be a little off-site,” said Abernathy.
Dhabaan agreed with Abernathy.
“I think the best idea would be plan one because the second and third plans would probably make it harder to travel around the school,” said Dhabaan, “especially to the fine arts building in plan two.”
