It’s good news for the Dibrell community and the students at Dibrell School as the state fire marshal approved a certificate of occupancy for the existing building Wednesday, which will allow school to open on time Monday.
The expansion of the facility is still in process, but that section of the building won’t be complete and ready for occupancy until early to mid-October, according to officials.
Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale said he is pleased the existing building passed its safety inspection Wednesday and appreciates state fire marshal Bob Dixson’s patience and assistance.
When contacted at the central office yesterday Hale had just returned from the school, which was having registration.
“I just got back from Dibrell so I’m feeling good right now,” Hale said. “It’s good news, it looks to be in good shape, they’ve made tremendous strides in the last two weeks.”
While the decision came down to the wire, Hale said everyone is happy, and relieved, at the ultimate result.
“We’ve got a certificate of occupancy from the fire marshal,” Hale said. “They passed the electrical inspection actually on Monday, so I think we’re set to go out there. Of course we’re looking forward to getting the new part of it done, but at least we can start school.”
There are still some areas in the existing building that can’t be fully utilized, like the gym and the cafeteria.
“We can’t use the gym,” Hale said. “And there’s a makeshift cafeteria. The cafeteria is being converted as part of the renovation to make classrooms, so I think the kids will go to the makeshift cafeteria, get their food and take it back to their rooms. The bathrooms are all ready. They haven’t switched over to the new sewer line. They’re still using the old septic line, but the other one’s ready to switch over as soon as the new one’s done.”
Hale said the school’s student population may actually increase slightly, according to school principal Robbie Hitchcock.
“Mrs. Hitchcock and everybody’s running numbers now, but she said they had 31 new students show up this morning,” Hale said. “I don’t know what that’s going to do overall. I don’t know how many they had leave.”
Hale did say if the population remains the same as last year the number of students could approach 500, which goes to show the expansion was warranted.
Construction on the expansion began last August with contractor Midstate Construction working toward having it done in time for the start of this school year.
But from the beginning it seemed as if the weather had decided not to cooperate. Director of maintenance Donnie Caldwell said the snow last winter and the rains in the spring and summer this year combined to cause an inordinate number of lost work days for the contractor.
“All the weather days we had is what threw us so far behind,” said Caldwell. “It was something like 90 days, I mean, that’s three months. They’re making up some time, but they still have a way to go to finish up all of it.”
Caldwell has been involved closely with the project from the beginning and said yesterday he is glad the students will start school with the rest of the county Monday.
“I feel great,” Caldwell said. “I feel really good and I know the staff does. They’ve been all smiles out here today, tickled to death. I know Mr. Bost is, he’s been hanging right here with me, out here pretty much every day.”
Hale said he is grateful for all the efforts of the contractor, school board officials and school employees that made it happen.
“It’s a lot of work from a lot of people,” Hale said. “But it looks like it’s coming together and I know the Dibrell community is really excited with what’s happening now and what’s going to happen just down the road. I’m really pleased it’s all coming together.”