Several Stone Mountain Schools Get Upgrades, Renovations

As the start of the new school year approaches, several DeKalb County schools in Stone Mountain are wrapping up or in the midst of about $6.5 million in upgrades and improvements made possible by SPLOST III.

Renovations at Stone Mountain High School’s engineering lab cost the most, at about $6 million, said Rodney Jenkins, public information officer for DeKalb County Schools. The renovations will be complete on or by the opening of the 2011-2012 school year, which is August 8.

The space's features will include a 28-station computer aided design lab and CNC (computer numerical control) robotics lab.

Changes at other Stone Mountain schools include a roofing project done at Woodridge Elementary School; a roofing project underway at Hambrick Elementary School; and emergency generator work at Redan Elementary School .        

Jenkins said in an e-mail that the emergency generator installation and/or replacement is happening “as a districtwide project to ensure that all Elementary schools have generator capability.” 

The school district is projecting 98,300 students to start the year in DeKalb, Jenkins said. It hired 350 new teachers, who are still in the process of  being assigned, he said. Teachers aren’t due in their buildings until Aug. 2.

Other DeKalb County schools undergoing renovation projects include: Lakeside High School; Clarkston High School; Henderson Middle School, Sequoyah Middle School and Druid Hills Middle School (formerly Shamrock Middle School; Kelley Lake Elementary School; Lithonia Middle School; and Oak Grove Elementary School. 

In addition to the work at Woodridge, roofing projects have been done at Miller Grove Middle School, Evansdale Elementary School, Glen Haven Elementary School, and William Bradley Bryant Center.

Also underway are roofing projects at Evansdale Elementary School, Flat Shoals, Elementary School, and Hawthorne Elementary School in addition to the work being done at Hambrick. The projects will be complete this fall. 

Plumbing fixture replacements have taken place at these elementary schools: Cary Reynolds, Fairington, Huntley Hills, Meadowview, Montgomery, Smoke Rise and Stoneview.   

Besides the work at Redan Elementary, emergency generators are being installed and/or replaced at Dresden Elementary School, Idlewood Elementary School and Rainbow Elementary School.

The new Chamblee Charter High School is starting and will be complete in 2013. Temporary classrooms have been placed on the site and will be used throughout the project lifetime, Jenkins said. 

Once the temporary classrooms are in place, partial demolition of the existing building will start. The new high school will accommodate a student population of 1,600.

With the new school year just around the corner, Jenkins said some things to keep in mind are that the Georgia High School Graduation Test, or GHSGT, has been phased out for incoming ninth graders.

Parents and incoming ninth grade students should know that end-of-course tests, or EOCT, will count for 20 percent of their course grade. EOCTs will continue to count for 15 percent of the course grade for students in high school prior to the 2011-2012 school year, he said.