Fairmount Elementary poised to open, wow students

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Only a few steps were needed inside the new Fairmount Elementary School to realize what a whole lot of children will be saying when the building opens for classes Jan. 5.
“We expect to hear a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ when the pupils come in,” Fairmount Principal Rachel Walk said with a laugh. “But it’s going to be very, very exciting for all of us here. It’s a whole new start for us.”
Bristol district officials – led by Walk and Director of Schools Gary Lilly – hosted a Wednesday tour of the rebuilt Fairmount Elementary on Virginia Avenue and Cypress Street.
Fairmount now has spacious, bright classrooms, each to be equipped with four student computers. Lights in those classrooms automatically turn on whenever anyone entered the room. A huge music wing was specifically created to provide the best-possible acoustic conditions. An expanded, gleaming center will host alternative-learning students. Wide, color-coded hallways, arranged by grade level, will help young pupils easily remember rooms and areas. A massive library, complete with color-changing lights over its entrance, is smartly placed in the school’s center to separate the lower- and upper-grade campuses. And a shiny span of carpeting in the library features a spread of alphabet letters.
The school also has tons of energy-efficient touches, from windows arranged to attract natural light to recycled bricks and wood saved from the former Fairmount building.
“We look at Fairmount as a huge step forward in our work to provide the best learning environment we can for students,” Lilly said.
“It’s really a symbol of how many people in Bristol care about giving our students the best possible resources for learning, from parents to city officials to our faculty and staff,” Lilly said.
The district began work on the new Fairmount in August 2008. The 75,000-square-foot building is more than 25 percent bigger than the former school, originally built in 1918, and will cost an estimated $13.4 million. The new Fairmount will house 430 or so students, but has enough capacity for 650.
Currently, Fairmount pupils and students at Central Elementary School attend classes together at the latter building, on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The new Fairmount will now house all of those students, Walk said.
Walk said she was particularly proud of the new Fairmount because faculty and staff members had shown so much enthusiasm in providing input on the building.
“I’m really proud of how involved everyone became, even down to small touches,” Walk said.
She noted how Bristol district officials, led by Supervisor of Facilities and Maintenance Ed DePew, took pains to put lockers in upper-grade classrooms for students but cubby spaces in lower-grade rooms – largely because that’s what teachers recommended.
“A little detail like that can make a big difference for teachers in their classrooms,” Walk said.
DePew and Lilly said they were pleased that Fairmount’s construction would finish on schedule, and that steps were consistently taken to keep it slightly below budget.
Lilly noted that while Fairmount had met all of the environmental and green-friendly requirements to receive official certification as an “energy-efficient” building, the district would not seek that status – because it would cost $80,000 to apply for it.
“We’d rather spend that money on something for our students,” Lilly said.
“We know the building is energy-efficient and that’s what matters. We don’t need a plaque to say that. And I don’t think the community needs it to be proud of the new Fairmount.”

rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512