THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 1996 TAG: 9609040462
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 68 lines
Inside, students socialized, teachers lectured and new textbooks crackled. Outside, bulldozers and dump trucks rumbled.
Hickory High - the city's sixth high school and the only new one in South Hampton Roads - opened Tuesday to great fanfare, despite being only about 60 percent complete.
``It's nothing short of a miracle,'' said Edward L. Hughes, School Board clerk, one of a small army of central office administrators on hand at Hickory Tuesday morning to help direct traffic, usher students to class and keep visitors from unwittingly stumbling into construction areas.
As of Labor Day weekend, Hughes and other school officials were not sure the miracle was going to happen. On Saturday afternoon, city inspectors still had not given approval to open the building. Construction crews, teachers, administrators, janitors, students and volunteers worked 24 hours a day over the weekend to get the building cleaned, furnished, decorated and ready.
Inspectors gave the thumbs-up Sunday.
Heavy construction is mostly confined to the rear sections of the school, the auditorium and gymnasium, which are closed off from the students by temporary walls or fences. The gym is due to be finished in mid-October, the auditorium around mid-December.
Most of the classroom sections of the school were complete or inhabitable Tuesday, and there was little noise inside from the construction.
Many finishing touches have yet to be made. Library shelves, for example, were empty. The books were due to be delivered sometime Tuesday.
In the cafeteria, students ate boxed lunches at temporary folding tables. The real tables will be delivered soon, and hot meals will begin Monday after the cafeteria staff completes training on newly installed kitchen equipment.
Outdoors, the fields surrounding the newly laid parking lots still look a bit like moonscapes. Crews are landscaping, little by little. None of the athletic fields is finished.
Sod has been laid on the football field, and the bleachers are up. But the grass won't be ready in time for the Hawks' first game against Ocean Lakes High School Saturday. They'll play at Great Bridge High School's field.
None of the inconveniences dulled the enthusiasm of Principal Linda J. Byrd or the school's staff Tuesday. All wore buttons with the slogan ``Hickory High School: Soaring to new heights.''
Streamers, balloons and hand-painted banners in the school's colors - teal green, black and white - decorated the hallways.
``This is a beautiful building,'' Byrd said to anyone who stopped a moment to chat.
An extremely rainy winter and spring, combined with an aggressive construction schedule, caused delays in construction, which might have kept the school from opening on time. But School Board Member Thomas L. Mercer Sr. said community members were anxious to have the new school open, as long as it was safe for students.
In addition to blocking off construction areas, the school has two extra security monitors to help make sure no students get in harm's way. Construction workers also have been ordered not to come into the building during school.
Whitney R. Temple, 15, a junior, said the construction did not bother her. ``The school's really pretty,'' Whitney said. ``I think it's going to be nice when it's finished.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by STEVE EARLEY, The Virginian-Pilot
Principal Linda Byrd dropped by a history class Tuesday to welcome
students to Chesapeake's new Hickory High School. ``This is a
beautiful building,'' she said. Construction workers, staff members,
students and volunteers worked 24 hours a day over Labor Day weekend
to get the building cleaned, furnished, decorated and ready. by CNB