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June 05, 2010
Shovels dig in on symbolic start to LCHS renovations
Chelsea Kellner
Sanford Herald
Lee County High School senior Jamillah Terry recalls being forced to sit on the floor when her overcrowded psychology class ran out of desks.
Senior Tazchae Medley remembers leaky roofs and overflowing storm drains around campus.
Junior Anthony Bailey said many school bathrooms are "pretty much destroyed."
With the turn of a shovel Thursday afternoon, all that is about to change.
"The only time more special than breaking the ground is cutting the ribbon to open the school," U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge said at the official groundbreaking ceremony for Lee County High School renovations Thursday.
The event marked the official start to a two-year, $20.4 million revamping of the 59-year-old campus - a project that will include everything from roof replacement to the construction of a brand new building.
Workers actually started on the project started in mid-May, making the groundbreaking more of a symbolic gesture.
"Through these doors when this school is completed will pass the future, for Lee County, for North Carolina and for the nation," Etheridge said.
Richard Hayes, chairman of the Lee County Board of Commissioners, told the crowd that the project will help "sharpen our competitive edge" and present Lee County as an area that "has its priorities in order."
The Lee County Board of Education approved a final contract with American South Contractors of Sanford at their April meeting. The district is one of the first in the country to take advantage of a new national initiative providing zero-interest school construction and modernization bonds to local districts, Etheridge said.
According to Etheridge's office, the bonds initiative was recently passed into law after more than a decade of effort, and will save Lee County $2.8 million in interest on the Lee County High School renovations project alone.
Parents and community members have pushed for the renovations for years. It's why county commissioner Amy Dalrymple got involved in local politics two years ago, sweating through community meetings in the school's non-air conditioned gymnasium as one of the founding members of the Parents for Parity activism group. At Thursday's event, she said she was "overjoyed" to see their efforts finally bear fruit.
"It brings this site into the 21st Century," Dalrymple said.
Renovations will revamp everything from windows and doors to the storm drainage system, according to the Lee County Schools website. The new building will tie into the two main classroom buildings and provide new library and administration areas, as well as classrooms and labs.
Carpentry teacher Quinlan Henry is looking forward to new paint, new doors and a long-awaited dust collector for the carpentry shop.
"This has been a long time coming," Henry said. "When you look at the state of some of the buildings here, you can see that it needs it. The kids deserve better."
Principal Greg Batten recalled school employees working in offices so small they could barely fit through the door, and students drenched from walking through the rain to get to class.
"Our students will not let you down - thank you for not letting our students down," Batten told the crowd.
At Thursday's event, school board chairman Bill Tatum thanked Lee County citizens for passing the quarter-cent sales tax that also helped make the project possible. He was joined by teachers, alumni and current students, as well as fellow board members, in moving a few shovels full of dirt to mark the end of the ceremony and the start of work on the school.
"I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished," junior Anthony Bailey said.
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