By Terry Witt- Spotlight Senior Reporter
The new Chiefland Middle High School, a $38 million facility, was dedicated with a ribbon cutting Thursday, 100 years after the original CHS was founded at the same location.
“This school was actually founded in 1922 with 10 students. Today we cut this ribbon, opening 100 years of continuous progress and excellence in education tradition,” said School Board member Paige Brookins, a graduate of CHS. “Great credit is due to each of you who have been so supportive and instrumental in making this project happen.”
School Superintendent Chris Cowart praised Parrish-McCall Constructors, Inc., the firm that built the school, and Clemons Rutherford & Associates, the architects that designed it for doing a great job of working with school staff to make sure everything ran smoothly.
Cowart also gave thanks to state lawmakers in the Florida Senate and the Florida House who secured state facilities funding for the three-phase project. He said the school district needed stable and committed leaders in Tallahassee to move the money through the legislative process and they had many of them.
He said the project started with former State Rep. Charlie Stone. When Stone retired from politics due to term limits, he passed the torch to the man who replaced him, State Rep. Joe Harding, who continued supporting the CMHS project in the Legislature.
“We are losing Representative Harding to Marion County but I know Representative Chuck Clemons, who represented Gilchrist, and Dixie Counties has been a good friend in helping with this process and staying with this process and knowing what’s going on when we’re in Tallahassee and our board members are in Tallahassee,” Cowart said. “We all appreciate the heavy lifting he did.”
The superintendent said he would be remiss if he didn’t mention the efforts of the State Senators who helped obtain state money for the project.
“It started with State Senator Rob Bradley. Rob Bradley has been a real good friend to Levy County in this process in helping secure the funding for Williston Middle High School and Chiefland Middle High School,” Cowart said. “It continued with State Senator Jennifer Bradley and we are losing her but we’re thankful we’ve had great representation and look forward to great representation. I know State Senator Keith Perry has been a part of the process. He has had an open door if we needed anything and also helped birddog this process to get this funding for the last year.”
Cowart also recognized Chiefland City Commissioners Lewrissa Johns and Norman Weaver for their presence at the dedication. He recognized Property Appraiser office employees Jason Whistler and James Allen for being present.
He called for a moment of silence to recognize the late Osborn “Oz” Barker, former property appraiser, who passed away last year.
“There is somebody that is not here that was a gigantic supporter of this school and this community and Levy County in general. Let’s remember Oz Barker with a moment of silence,” Cowart said.
Michael Walsh of Parrish-McCall said the project was challenging but it went extremely well considering the complex nature of building a school that was occupied by students.
“This is a three-year, three-phase project on an occupied campus. There’s a lot that could go wrong in a long process like that and everything hasn’t gone perfectly, but overall, I think it’s gone very smoothly and the reason for that is just great teamwork among all the parties,” Walsh said.
Greg Kelley of Clemons Rutherford, the architectural firm, said the project ran exceptionally well and is farther along than other similar school projects the company is working on in other parts of the state. He recognized Principal Matthew McClelland for making such a large task on-campus run so smoothly. McClelland was paramount in this process, not only running the school as principal but participating in every weekly construction meeting.
“We are fortunate enough to work on special facilities projects all over the state and I want you to understand they don’t go as smoothly as this one has. This has been an exceptional project,” Kelley said. “The entire team has made this work. I would like to point out that your school board and superintendent did a great job in Tallahassee. It was funded. There were multiple other schools that were funded at the same time. None of them are this far along in the process. It has been a great job.”
Construction of the school isn’t finished. The third phase of the project involves building a new gymnasium and locker rooms alongside the current middle school gym. Site work has begun. The old gymnasium will be used for one more season before being torn down and replaced by parking.
The school’s former agriculture building is being converted into a space for football team conditioning and weightlifting. The football team lost its weightlifting facility early in the construction process when it was replaced by the new cafeteria. The team has been weightlifting in temporary facilities at one end of the old gym since the construction process began. The temporary weightlifting facilities were tiny compared to what the team had been using. The new facilities in the old ag building will provide ample space.
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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt July 21, 2022; Posted July 21, 2022
