Despite closing as a city school in January, Hunt Intermediate School is still teeming with energy.
Columbus Municipal School District is moving its alternative school, testing department and special education portion of the office of federal programs from central office to Hunt.
And by as early as next week, the school”s gym will be a flurry of activity with students participating in Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority”s summer programs.
The 1953 building is being brought up to date, turning classrooms into offices, adding carpet, upgrading lighting and, of course, painting.
“It just allows us to, particularly, do the (special education) assessments with the parents present. That is something we get a lot of requests for,” said Anthony Brown, assistant superintendent for federal programs for Columbus schools.
“It”s going to streamline the assessment process,” he said.
For the CLRA, use of the gym will mean an additional area to host basketball, as well as various other summer programs.
“We”re going to have summer programming that will go over there, as soon as we get clearance on the building,” said Greg Lewis, project coordinator for the CLRA. “They”re still doing touchups.”
The CLRA plans to host exercise classes for seniors, adaptive programs for children with special needs, arts and crafts and summer basketball.
“We only have one gym,” Lewis said of CLRA facilities. “One of them is being renovated and the other one needs to be torn down.”
The East Columbus Gym on Lawrence Drive is being renovated as part of a neighborhood parks plan. The Charles Brown Gym on Ninth Street South eventually will be torn down and replaced with an outdoor basketball pavilion.
“This will give us two good gyms to use,” Lewis said.
Hunt first opened as an all-black high school in 1953, the same year Lee High School opened as the area”s all-white high school. Hunt most recently housed sixth grade, and Lee housed seventh and eighth grade, until the district built a new middle school at the corner of Highway 45 North and Highway 373. Lee currently is being leased to Kingdom Vision International Church. It eventually will be appraised and go up for sale.
The 130,000-square-foot new Columbus Middle School houses grades six, seven and eight, and offers art and music studios, as well as modern science labs, to help in continuation of the elementary schools” magnet themes — fine arts, technology and communication, aerospace and science, medical sciences and wellness and international studies.
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Related Photos
The Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority plans to use Hunt’s gym for summer basketball and other programs. Photo by: Garthia Elena Burnett
The hallway in the upstairs portion of Hunt has new carpet and lighting. Photo by: Garthia Elena Burnett
