LYNN HAVEN — Despite being mid-renovation, the craziness that often typifies the first day of school will be no different for students at A. Crawford Mosley High School.
“Everyone’s first day is always exciting,” said Sandra Harrison, Mosley’s principal. “They’ll be lost, but everyone will be lost.”
The first day of school for more than 1,700 Mosley students will be as if they’ve walked onto a construction site. In fact, the $6.6 million, half-cent sales tax-funded renovation project is still underway. A project of its magnitude needs more time to complete, officials say, but, when it’s done, it’ll be flawless.
“It’ll be virtually a brand new school,”
Work on the project, which includes new tiling and lighting in corridors, completely renovated classrooms and a contemporary dining area, started about two weeks before the last school year ended and was projected to be ready by the first day of school. But the large-scale scope of the work has pushed the completion date to mid-September for classrooms and hallways and to October for the cafeteria.
“We’ll have food service; it just won’t be the hot food lunch line that we’re used to,”
Instead, students will have the option to get “grab ‘n’ go” meals or bring their own. Tables will be assembled in the cafeteria.
Renderings of the completed cafeteria show a relaxed environment, colored in white and shades of orange and greens, with lowered lighting and a range of styles for sitting and eating.
“It’s really going to be like a junior college-service type of setting — a dining hall,” said Scott Brewer, vice president at All State Construction, the project’s contractor.
Brewer said the cafeteria was the final part of the project to be renovated. Classrooms and corridors will be safe, cleaned and “ready for everyone” today, he said.
Overall, he added, the work that already has been completed will be “an improvement that (students) will notice right away.”
Not far from the cafeteria is Anke Gunn’s classroom. Her room — from top to bottom — is brand new.
Tiled, dark gray carpet squares accented with random orange and lime green designs contrast with the new ceiling tiles that hold energy-efficient light fixtures, which have a dimming feature. Brand new chairs and desks form a U-shape in the classroom’s center and new white boards line two walls.
“It’s wonderful,” Gunn said.
“I used to have old hand-me-down desks, but all the equipment here is new,” she added. For Tuesday, “everything is set.”
