Published: December 20, 2005 12:33 am            

Structure of rock building gets OK

CHATSWORTH — No one knew if the “rock building” was “structurally sound” enough to be renovated into a central office for Murray County Schools until last week, superintendent Charlotte Pipkin said Monday.

The rock building is the original Murray County High School, which was completed in 1934. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Craig Buckley of James W. Buckley & Associates of Swainsboro, the architect who designed Bagley Middle and Woodlawn Elementary schools, inspected the rock building last week with an engineer.

“He felt like we had made a wise decision to restore it,” Pipkin said of Buckley. “It has a lot of potential.”

Plans for how the current central office will be used have not been finalized because it will be years until the rock building is renovated. The building needs a new roof and windows, and the floor will need to be braced near the gym, Pipkin said.

“Structurally, the building is fine,” Pipkin said.

The next step is to discuss how many offices and rooms are needed in the central office, she said. A design was completed a few years ago but Pipkin says the school system’s needs have changed.

Buckley has said he will donate his time to complete designs for the building.

A committee was recently formed to help raise funds to renovate the building. A little more than $42,000 had been raised as of Monday, Pipkin said.

“We still don’t know exactly how much it will cost to put the roof on the building,” she said. One estimate had put the cost at $100,000.

The school system has requested the state Department of Corrections provide labor for the renovation. Pipkin said she is “still waiting for a definite answer from the department.”

        

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