Ground broken for new Fair St. School

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville school children, alumni, school system and government officials, some of whom are former teachers and alumni of Fair Street School, gathered Monday morning to break ground for the new $19-million facility to replace the aging building.

There were several speakers including Quincy Holcomb, a fourth generation student at Fair Street.

He said the event symbolized Monday's observance of Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, observing that when Fair Street School opened 75 years ago it was a blacks only school in a segregated system.

"They're going to tear it down and build a new one," he said. "It won't be only for blacks. It will be for anyone who wants to go."

According to Superintendent Dr. Merrianne Dyer, demolition is scheduled on the old building beginning January 26th, weather permitting, and construction begins soon afterwards.

"Between January 26th and the first week of February, demolition is slated," Dr. Dyer said.

With the empty school in the background, the children took turns with alumni and the officials breaking ground with gold colored shovels. Principal Will Campbell said the new school, slated for completion in about two years, would be more efficient and it was time to replace the old one.

"It would cost more to maintain than to build a new school," Campbell said, adding that foundation problems along with plumbing and roof problems led to the School Board's decision to replace the old school.

School Board Chairman Willie Mitchell said Mother Nature played a role in the opening and now the end of the historic school, built a year after the tornado of 1936 devastated Gainesville.

Mitchell, a Fair Street alumni, said Mother Nature eventually had its way again.

"Here we are in 2012 and because Mother Nature has destroyed this building," Mitchell said, "we're on embarking on a new beginning for Fair Street."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/1/245008