VALDOSTA — Lowndes County’s newest middle school carries a name with decades of history.

On Monday, Pine Grove Middle School faculty and staff welcomed future students and area residents to the $24 million facility on River Road.

“Pine Grove Middle School has turned into a much grander school than I ever thought it would be,” Superintendent Dr. Steve Smith said.

Smith said when he first toured the site, which sits on more than 200 acres, he knew the place was an ideal location for a complex of schools.

The facility, and the currently under construction Pine Grove Elementary School, are both funded through SPLOST.

Board Chairman Philip Poole, District 6 said his mother and aunts attended the Pine Grove school as did he as an elementary school student.

In his mother’s time there was no Board of Education but a Board of Trustees, made up of community members dedicated to provide support and money to the school.

Poole’s grandfather was a member of the Board of Trustees and oftentimes a teacher would stop by the farm and have to wait for his grandfather to come from the fields to interview for a job, Poole said.

In Poole’s mother’s time the facility was kindergarten through 12th grade, he said.

Steve Stalvey said his dad, who began school at Pine Grove as a 10th grader in 1939, had eight students in his graduating class.

The new middle school, the future elementary school and the proposed high school will bring the idea of a school at Pine Grove full circle, Stalvey said.

A member of the Pine Grove class of 1959 shared his thoughts about the new school and his time at Pine Grove with the audience.

Tommy Moore discussed two theories on education. One states that community schools are the best schools for students, the other says that small schools are better for students.

Pine Grove Middle School, Moore said, has both.

“It’s a concept we had right 50 years ago,” he said.

From Clyattville and Lake Park to Hahira and Pine Grove, all Lowndes County communities had schools they supported, Moore said.

“And an intense and some would say rabid competitiveness in athletics,” Moore said.

The new facility will keep the Viking mascot and crimson and white colors.

The 146,539 square foot facility was designed by Manley Spangler Smith and built by Pinnacle Prime Contractors, Inc.

“A project like this doesn’t come together without a lot of people putting a lot of effort into it,” said Mike Powers, executive director of facilities and operations.

The school is designed to support 837 students.

Now that construction is completed, the project is turned over to an even bigger endeavor — education, he said.

The facility has 52 instructional units, with each grade having a wing, a regulation football field, track, baseball, softball, tennis courts, a wood floor gymnasium, agriculture lab, acoustic chorus and band rooms, state-of-the-art kitchen facilities and technology lab.

Poole said the natural light emitted through 27 lightwells will help the overall attitude of students and creates a more inviting atmosphere.

“It’s an incredibly beautiful building, I can’t see how students can come here and can’t be totally inspired,” said Lynn Blanton, special education administrator and graduation coach.

Sixth grade math teacher Jessi Croft is most excited about the MOBI wireless slates that are in every classroom at the school.

The computer software will allow Croft and other teachers to walk around the room discussing the lesson and writing on an electronic slate. The information written on the slate is transmitted through the projector to the board, Croft said.

Students will be able to use the slates as well by writing answers and developing problems that others students can view from their seats.

The new elementary school, which will replace the current Pine Grove Elementary School, is scheduled for completion in May of 2010.

The $15 million school will have 52 classrooms on two majors wings and be located across the River Road from Pine Grove Middle School.

The proposed high school is still several years away from construction but will be smaller than Lowndes High School.

Pine Grove Elementary School originally began as a one-room, log structure with one teacher, and it grew as the student population increased.



Brooks County High School



The hallowed halls of the old Brooks County High School will echo no more with the sounds of students’ voices.

On Monday the school system opened the doors to its new state-of-the-art $16 million high school on State Road 333. Hundreds of Brooks County residents got a first-hand look at the facility during its dedication ceremony.

The approximately 140,000-square-foot school has 37 instructional units, a cafeteria, media center, agricultural classrooms, gymnasium and band room.

The doors into the school open up into the cafeteria, with a wing leading to classrooms and doors leading into the gymnasium.

Board President Brad Shealey said this facility has been years in the making.

“There’s been a lot of changes in education and most have been for the better,” he said.

Shealey has served on the board since 1985, when the school system was made up of seven buildings scattered throughout Brooks County.

Many of the facilities were built in the 1930s or 1950s and would be too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, Shealey said.

While academics is the key to education, a facility can distract from the focus of education, Shealey said.

In 1992, when construction began on Quitman and North Brooks Elementary, the goal of replacing all those facilities began. The journey ends with Brooks County High School, he said.

“Buildings don’t educate students but they do provide a safe environment for students to learn,” Shealey said.

The building is built to accommodate 700 students. A facility that was built through community support, Shealey said.

“This facility will long stand as a symbol of your commitment to the students and their future,” Shealey said.

The school was built through bonds taken out by the school system.

Principal Howard Akers said that on Thursday of last week everything the teachers had brought to the school was in boxes in the halls. On Monday everything was in the classrooms, he said.

Since the teachers are not quite finished with organizing the rooms, the classrooms were closed to visitors, but common areas such as the gymnasium, cafeteria and the technology room were open.