Posted 1:55 am Thursday, November 19, 2009
TISD Breaks Ground On New Griffin Elementary Campus
By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer
With machines and crews at work in the background, Griffin Elementary students, staff and community members celebrated the construction of their new school with a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday.
Staff Writer
With machines and crews at work in the background, Griffin Elementary students, staff and community members celebrated the construction of their new school with a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday.
"It's exciting, and it all happened so quickly," Griffin Principal Cynthia Howland said of seeing the work happening at the site. "I'm looking out one day and there's a little bit of dirt moved, and you look out the next day and they've just made major changes. It's extremely exciting."
The staff and students are looking forward to the opening of the new school where everyone will be under one roof and out of portable buildings, Ms. Howland said.
"It is very exciting to have a new modern facility where our students and staff can feel safe," she said. "It will also have modern technology to enhance instruction."
In October, TISD trustees approved a guaranteed maximum price for the building package for the new Griffin Elementary replacement campus in the amount of $13,974,223 to Denson Construction Co. Inc. Eubanks-Harris-Roberts-Craig is the architecture firm working on the project.
Griffin is one of five new campuses TISD is building as part of the $124.9 million bond program voters approved in November.
Griffin will be constructed on property next to Dogan Middle School near the corner of Broadway Avenue and 28th Street, which TISD plans to extend to Broadway.
It is the last of the five schools to be built in the 2008 "Phase 2" bond program. The project was delayed after the district had to change the proposed location. Griffin is scheduled to open in December 2010, while the other four schools are slated to open by August 2010.
"I think this is going to be a remarkable site for this brand new school," TISD Dr. Randy Reid said at Wednesday's ceremony. "We had other options, and I think it's great that we centered here. It's going to be a very unique school, and it's going to be a tremendous asset to not only the kids here but also the community in this area."
According to previous discussions, Griffin will not have a prototypical "Jack Elementary design" as was originally proposed. Instead, it will have a unique, split-level design. It is designed for 800 students.
Students at the event said they were excited about getting a new school.
Jayla Thompson, a first-grader at Griffin, said she thinks her new school will be "gigantic" and have no portable buildings.
Her classmate, Makayla Jones, also a first-grader, said "It's going to be the biggest school I've ever seen."
Officials at the groundbreaking ceremony thanked the community for supporting the bond election to make these new schools possible.
TISD Board President Ron Vickery said he knows that this new Griffin Elementary School is "much needed" and is "very much overdue."
"We are so excited to finally get this (project) off and running," Vickery said. "We couldn't have done this without the overwhelming support of our community. We are very thankful. I'm here to tell you there's still a lot of work to do in Tyler ISD."
TISD Trustee the Rev. Orenthia Mason, who served as principal of Griffin for 14 years from 1989 to 2003 and attended the elementary school, told students at the groundbreaking that she never dreamed as a student that she would one day be the principal.
"That says to you it's a dream, but you can be whatever you want to be in life," Ms. Mason said. "So one day, one of you may come back and be the principal of this beautiful school that we will yet to see built on these hallowed grounds."
Ms. Mason was one of the first third-graders to attend Griffin when it opened in 1960, she said.
"It felt good opening up a new school, but it's also a joy to see this ground and to see the foundation about to be laid for a new school that was a dream, and is a long-time coming, but is going to be a place for children to receive a quality education and to leave from here to go on and achieve greatness in life," she said after the ceremony.
"It brings tears to my eyes, but those are joyful tears. This is the neighborhood that has educated so many of us -- both socially as well as academically. To see this day come is just great. It's outstanding."
