The Hall County school board, commissioners, parents and students gathered Monday night at the new Cherokee Bluff Middle School building for its ribbon cutting. Cherokee Bluff Middle School is the Hall County School District’s first new school building in 15 years.
Cherokee Bluff Middle School is the largest middle school in the district at 209,700 square feet with a capacity for 1,500 students. Matt Cox, Hall County School’s executive director of facilities and construction, said the district had planned to develop this school to alleviate crowding at Cherokee Bluff High School.
The adjacent high school currently houses sixth through 12th grade.
“We were waiting to see if the growth and came, though we pretty much knew it was from day one,” Cox said. “So this is kind of finishing that thought of a full set of clusters.”
Cherokee Bluff Middle School principal Robert Wilson said school officials will begin moving their things from Cherokee Bluff High School starting Friday.
The three-story building divides the grades by level, with sixth grade on the first floor, seventh grade on the second floor and eighth grade on the third floor.
Cherokee Bluff Middle School offers students 64 classrooms, 18 new science labs, a business and marketing lab, an engineering and technology lab, a healthcare science lab and a new art, band and chorus room.
The healthcare science lab was an intentional choice, because of the school’s close proximity to Northeast Georgia Medical Center. It also pairs with Cherokee Bluff High School’s healthcare pathway.
“Hall County is a lot about school choice and different programs of choice,” Wilson said. “So one of the big ones with Cherokee Bluff is a healthcare focus because of our closeness to the new hospital and doctor’s offices.”
There are also two special education family living suites for special education students to learn life skills, like cooking, cleaning and doing laundry.
The school incorporated different types of flexible seating for different types of learners. Each classroom has five high-top desks for students who may find it difficult to sit in one place. The other low desks can be easily pushed together for teachers to divide the class into groups.
Cherokee Bluff Middle School’s learning commons also reflects this varied seating, with high-top, bistro-style seating for older children and lower couches for sixth graders.
“[The learning commons] is the heart of the school,” Cox said. “That's why it's physically located in the middle of the school. Everything is flexible. It's all about literacy.”
Cox estimated that the learning center could accommodate four full classrooms.
Cherokee Bluff Middle School students will be able to enjoy their new, state-of-the-art building at the start of the fall school year.
