Artists at Work
By Katherine Pierpont, Senior Editor

We should admit now that we didn't have high hopes for Cave Spring Elementary being one of the more picturesque schools we've visited. But with good reason. This past June, this preK-5 school in Cave Spring, GA relocated to a temporary school in nearby Rome because their own school was being remodeled. Their "new" location, formerly the site of Coosa Middle School, had not held up well over the years, Susan Childers, Cave Spring's principal of 15 years, apologetically explained to us. "But you won't believe what my teachers have done!" she enthused.

Her eagerness to showcase her teachers' ingenuity at transforming a place she referred to as a "dungeon" piqued our curiosity enough that a few days later, we were on a plane headed to the small town of Rome, GA, located about two hours outside of Atlanta.

You won't believe all the creative ideas that teachers in Rome, GA came up with to turn a temporary school into a showplace.

Even though the day we visited Cave Spring Elementary was drizzly and dreary, the numerous hanging plants and flowers that festooned the main entrance immediately made things appear bright and cheery. Freshly-painted Adirondack chairs sat in front of the school's entrance as if they had been plucked from a lakeside porch. We noted how a storage shed had been cleverly recast as a Cave Spring Elementary school bus using an artistic technique called trompe l'oeil. Surely this was not the "dungeo" we were looking for?

Return of the King. As we entered the main lobby through a maze of ficus trees and hanging ferns, a water fountain quietly gurgled away in a corner next to a comfy-looking wicker couch and kid-sized rocking chairs. Books sat in baskets or were neatly filed into colorfully painted bookcases, just waiting to be selected and cozied up with on a couch layered with pillows or a cushy chair in a secluded corner. Well-tended plants sat on every available surface in painted pots. Susan came out of the main office and outstretched her arms. "So," she said, "What do you think?"

We were at a loss, really, considering we were still looking around for the dismal picture of neglect she had written about. "You really have to look closely now," she said. "You just won't believe all they've done."

We took her advice and began to take a closer look at our surroundings when we heard the faint strains of "Love Me Tender" coming from somewhere nearby. When we joked about Elvis being somewhere in the building, Susan pointed in the direction of the Hard Work Café, just steps away from the main office. Cave Spring's teachers have completely transformed the school's former main office into a special sanctuary just for kids. When they want to reward their students in a unique way, teachers give them permission to spend their free time at the Hard Work Café. From the neon lighted guitars hanging on the walls to the disco ball and love beads dangling from the ceiling, the Hard Work Café is clearly the place to be. A trio of 1950's-inspired café tables and chairs are situated around the room's showpiece - an "authentic" Elvis Presley lamp. "When we first moved in, the carpet in here was badly stained," Susan told us. "Assistant Principal Sara Giannakakis had the neatest idea. In keeping with the 1950's theme, she painted the industrial carpet black and white. The kids just love it!"

Now, keep in mind - we hadn't even stepped past the main lobby yet.

Susan Childers (right) wrote to Teaching K-8's Pat Broderick to tell her about her innovative staff of teachers.

Get away from it all. As we walked the hallways, Susan pointed out here and there what teachers had done to cover up water damage and rot, where walls and tiles had crumbled and in some cases, where whole sections of ceiling had long fallen out and never been replaced. We marveled at her teachers' creativity - in one area outside Mrs. Seago's fourth grade classroom, they had disguised water damage in the ceiling by stapling up blue tulle and creating a jellyfish out of a styrofoam ball cut in half and attaching strips of a tie-dyed t-shirt for tentacles. Mrs. Seago carried this ocean theme into her classroom and made her room into an island getaway complete with a patio umbrella over an overstuffed couch in her reading area, fisherman's nets with shells and starfish hanging on her walls, beach pails full of sand in every corner - and even her projector got in on the act by sporting a grass skirt.

Across the hall, Mr. McLean (whose bright orange fifth-grade classroom featured a giant map of the United States that he had painted on one wall), said it best, "This is the last year some of these kids will be at Cave Spring. We want all of their years here to be more memorable - no matter what."

A glimpse into Ms. Cook's colorful multiage first and second grade classroom.

No stone unturned. And not only are the teachers' classrooms welcoming and inventive, but no spot in this massive school (Cave Spring is comprised of just 320 students while Coosa Middle School was originally a high school before it became a middle school) was overlooked in getting a new splash of paint or being redecorated in a clever way. Custodian Butch Woodward and Christa Lambert, the school's counselor, covered unsightly pipes in a hallway with brown wrapping paper and then wound them with fake vines and leaves and topped their creation with a stuffed monkey. The teachers immediately followed his lead and set to turning the hallway into a jungle paradise. Just off this hallway, there now sits a lovely courtyard that Susan said was so overgrown with weeds, they had no idea there was a goldfish pond and raised beds present until two paraprofessionals came to the school on nights and weekends to cut through the overgrowth. This is now a peaceful garden area and also serves as an outdoor classroom.

PreK teacher Ms. Giles helps out a student.

A second look. The more we walked, the more we understood what Susan was saying about having to take a closer look at things. Although their boxes from Cave Spring's original location had been moved in June, the teachers weren't able to really start working until a few weeks before the kids were due back. They knew they were facing quite a challenge together, but never once let it steer them away from their goal of making the year away from Cave Spring into an adventure of sorts. Many times their perseverance was tested as some areas in the temporary location (which they refer to as "Coosa Cave") just seemed beyond repair. For example, throughout the building, many of the bathrooms were missing doors to stalls. Susan and her teachers were stumped on how to fix this situation as they certainly couldn't have students use restrooms where there were no doors on the stalls. Butch Woodward and Sylvia Lowe, the school's other custodian, decided to take down the remaining doors and fashioned new ones out of brightly-colored fabric hung on old broom and mop handles. "The kids have to get a little creative to get total privacy," Susan said, "but they don't seem to mind."

Finishing touches. Walking through Cave Spring's temporary home, it was hard to believe that the teachers and students had only been here for a few months. A very settled air prevailed over the school and the students had clearly made themselves right at home. This team of creative thinkers had very easily made a large, industrial school seem cozy with simple touches like beautiful antique dressers that served as displays for student art and storage, table lamps that created a soft, homey light in once drab hallways and pretty chairs, couches and donated church pews piled with colorful pillows. Another nice touch we noticed was that wherever we seemed to go, we could hear classical music softly playing. Music was even playing in the library where librarian Ms. Cox had used colored duct tape to cover the holes in the carpet for a fun-looking striped effect.

First graders gather to hear a story read by Ms. Hutchins.

As much as Susan Childers and Cave Spring's teachers have grown attached to this location they've made all their own, they're looking forward to returning home to Cave Spring and seeing what a year's worth of remodeling has done for their beloved school. "Our school is getting a huge new wing added with eight classrooms and a total renovation of everything that's existing. So it will be a great big, new school when we get back. And we're excited about that," Susan said.

There's something that Editorial Director Pat Broderick likes to remind all of us at Teaching K-8 - and that's her belief that teachers can do anything. Walking the once abandoned and decrepit hallways of Coosa Cave, we were convinced of the truth in that statement now more than ever.

March 2005, Vol.35, No.6