Artists at Work

Teaching Pre K-8, Mar 2005 by Pierpont, Katherine

A team of ingenious teachers rolls up their sleeves and turns a rundown temporary school into a magical place their students will never forget

We should admit now that we didn't have high hopes for Cave Spring Elementary being one of the more picturesque schools we've visited. But with good reason. This past June, this preK-5 school in Cave Spring, GA relocated to a temporary school in nearby Rome because their own school was being remodeled. Their "new" location, formerly the site of Coosa Middle School, had not held up well over the years, Susan Childers, Cave Spring's principal of 15 years, apologetically explained to us. "But you won't believe what my teachers have done!" she enthused.

Her eagerness to showcase her teachers' ingenuity at transforming a place she referred to as a "dungeon" piqued our curiosity enough that a few days later, we were on a plane headed to the small town of Rome, GA, located about two hours outside of Atlanta.

Even though the day we visited Cave Spring Elementary was drizzly and dreary, the numerous hanging plants and flowers that festooned the main entrance immediately made things appear bright and cheery. Freshly-painted Adirondack chairs sat in front of the school's entrance as if they had been plucked from a lakeside porch. We noted how a storage shed had been cleverly recast as a Cave Spring Elementary school bus using an artistic technique called trompe l'oeil. Surely this was not the "dungeon" we were looking for?

Return of the King. As we entered the main lobby through a maze of ficus trees and hanging ferns, a water fountain quietly gurgled away in a corner next to a comfy-looking wicker couch and kid-sized rocking chairs. Books sat in baskets or were neatly filed into colorfully painted bookcases, just waiting to be selected and cozied up with on a couch layered with pillows or a cushy chair in a secluded corner. Well-tended plants sat on every available surface in painted pots. Susan came out of the main office and outstretched her arms. "So," she said, "What do you think?"

We were at a loss, really, considering we were still looking around for the dismal picture of neglect she had written about. "You really have to look closely now," she said. "You just won't believe all they've done."

We took her advice and began to take a closer look at our surroundings when we heard the faint strains of "Love Me Tender" coming from somewhere nearby. When we joked about Elvis being somewhere in the building, Susan pointed in the direction of the Hard Work Café, just steps away from the main office. Cave Spring's teachers have completely transformed the school's former main office into a special sanctuary just for kids. When they want to reward their students in a unique way, teachers give them permission to spend their free time at the Hard Work Café. From the neon lighted guitars hanging on the walls to the disco ball and love beads dangling from the ceiling, the Hard Work Café is clearly the place to be. A trio of 1950's-inspired café tables and chairs are situated around the room's show-piece - an "authentic" Elvis Presley lamp. "When we first moved in, the carpet in here was badly stained," Susan told us. "Assistant Principal Sara Giannakakis had the neatest idea. In keeping with the 1950's theme, she painted the industrial carpet black and white. The kids just love it!"

Now, keep in mind - we hadn't even stepped past the main lobby yet.

Get away from it all. As we walked the hallways, Susan pointed out here and there what teachers had done to cover up water damage and rot, where walls and tiles had crumbled and in some cases, where whole sections of ceiling had long fallen out and never been replaced. We marveled at her teachers' creativity - in one area outside Mrs. Seago's fourth grade classroom, they had disguised water damage in the ceiling by stapling up blue tulle and creating a jellyfish out of a styrofoam ball cut in half and attaching strips of a tie-dyed t-shirt for tentacles. Mrs. Seago carried this ocean theme into her classroom and made her room into an island getaway complete with a patio umbrella over an overstuffed couch in her reading area, fisherman's nets with shells and starfish hanging on her walls, beach pails full of sand in every corner - and even her projector got in on the act by sporting a grass skirt.

Across the hall, Mr. McLean (whose bright orange fifth-grade classroom featured a giant map of the United States that he had painted on one wall), said it best, "This is the last year some of these kids will be at Cave Spring. We want all of their years here to be more memorable - no matter what."

No Stone unturned. And not only are the teachers' classrooms welcoming and inventive, but no spot in this massive school (Cave Spring is comprised of just 320 students while Coosa Middle School was originally a high school before it became a middle school) was overlooked in getting a new splash of paint or being redecorated in a clever way. Custodian Butch Woodward and Christa Lambert, the school's counselor, covered unsightly pipes in a hallway with brown wrapping paper and then wound them with fake vines and leaves and topped their creation with a stuffed monkey. The teachers immediately followed his lead and set to turning the hallway into a jungle paradise. Just off this hallway, there now sits a lovely courtyard that Susan said was so overgrown with weeds, they had no idea there was a goldfish pond and raised beds present until two paraprofessionals came to the school on nights and weekends to cut through the overgrowth. This is now a peaceful garden area and also serves as an outdoor classroom.