Rivera recommends preservation
of Lemon Street campuses
Marietta School District Superintendent Grant Rivera
walks the site of what is planned as a new central office,
which formerly housed the Lemon Street High School.
By Thomas Hartwell
thartwell@mdjonline.com
MARIETTA - Marietta residents and members
of historic preservation groups applauded the
June 2019 announcement that the Lemon Street
Grammar School building will not be demolished,
as part of Superintendent Grant Rivera’s plan for a
new central office complex.
The plan does propose the demolition of the
former schools annex building.
Prior to school integration in the 1960s, Marietta’s
black student population attended Lemon Street
Grammar School before heading across the street
to Lemon Street High School. The high school
building was razed in 1967. The grammar school
closed in 1972 and has since been used for storage.
Rivera announced plans in March 2019 to
construct a replica Lemon Street High School as
the school district’s new central office on the former
high school campus at 353 Lemon St. The proposal
also called for a new board room, community space
and museum at the Lemon Street Grammar School
site, along with possible improvements to the
Marietta Performance Learning Center next door to
the proposed central office.
The replica Lemon Street High School will still
be built at 353 Lemon St. under the district’s new
plans, but it, not the grammar school, will hold
the board meeting room, community space and
museum, according to Rivera.
Rivera said the Lemon Street Grammar School
is expected to be renovated and restored for
use as the new Marietta Performance Learning
Center, a program designed to help students
graduate on time.
Rivera said after careful study and
conversations with architects and historic
preservation groups, including Cobb Landmarks
& Historical Society and Kennesaw State
University’s Department of Museums, Archives
and Rare Books, he decided the school could be
renovated instead of leveled and rebuilt.
The building is slated to open as the new home of
the PLC in 2021, he said.
“We have always known, due to its unique
history, that the building was worth saving. The
question was whether we could afford to save the
building while being good stewards of taxpayer
dollars,” Rivera said, adding that the district will
do both by saving the school building.
Rivera said the grammar school building will
return to its intended use: educating Marietta’s
students.
We intend to utilize the existing 16,000 square
feet building to establish 12 to 14 classrooms, (a)
cafeteria and staff offices. Classrooms will include
21st century technology, equipped with interactive
panels, student Chromebooks and STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics)
resources, Rivera said.
The building will also house a small exhibit telling
the story of the building, he said. The museum, on
the other hand, will explore the history of Marietta
City Schools from 1892 to present, including the
days of segregation, he said.
The district intends to use money from the sale
of the Allgood Elementary property and Howard
Street central office, as well as money from an $8.5
million building fund for the project, Rivera said.
He also said, because the grammar school
renovation plans will include classrooms, the
renovations may be eligible for money from
a special, voter-approved 1% sales tax for
education. If not, Rivera said, the building fund
will cover any renovation expenses.
Marietta native Felecca Wilson Taylor, 72,
said she fought long and hard to have the
grammar school building saved. The daughter
of Hattie Wilson, namesake the school’s Hattie
Wilson Library, Wilson Taylor called Rivera’s
announcement welcome in a culture of raze
and pave.
Its push it over (and) build something new. If it
falls over, push it over again and build something
new that looks like what we had, rather than
renovate it, she said. The fact that the building
is going to be saved is great and that the new
building is going to replicate the old high school
is even better.
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