When Greenville patrons voted in early 2023 to annex their elementary school with Marietta’s district, along with the students moving to Marietta, the district’s property became Marietta’s. The matriculation of students was a fairly easy process, but deciding what to do with the campus was not.
“It’s really a logistics issue for us,” said Marietta Superintendent Brandi Naylor. “For us to use the classroom building, we’d have needed to bus kids back and forth during the day, which would’ve been tough to do. Although we have used the gym some, it’s just a huge expense for us to maintain the facilities and not get full use of them.”
At the same time, many of Greenville’s longtime residents, though they knew the annexation was unavoidable, hated the thought of losing their school and seeing the facilities sitting idle. They knew it was possible that Marietta might one day sell the property and feared what would become of the campus.
Enter District 3’s Love County Commissioner Stacey Rushing. The Greenville area is within Rushing’s service district, and he saw a need that the campus could fill in the area and spoke to Naylor about it.
The solution they came up with isn’t just a win-win, it’s a win-win-win.
It begins with the school donating the campus to Love County.
“Originally, we didn’t know if we could legally donate it,” Naylor explained, “but then Representative Josh Cantrell did some research and found a clause in the law that would allow that. The donation was approved at Monday night’s board of education meeting.”
That hurdle cleared, Rushing unveiled plans for the use of the campus.
“Well, to start with, we’ll have a memorandum of understanding with the school so that they can use the gym if they need to,” Rushing said. “Next, the Greenville Fire Department needs a new station, and we have preliminary plans to allow them to redesign the school building into a new station. It will likely entail them using some grant money and will probably need to be done in phases, but it’s plenty of space for them to do what they need, and the location will be great for them.”
Some residents had feared that the school building, a 100-year-old CCC building that’s part of Love County’s history, might be demolished. This way, the building can be preserved and used for many years to come.
“The county will have a 99-year lease on the school building, as well as on the cafeteria, which will hopefully become a community center for the Greenville area,” Rushing added.
Rushing’s plan is to establish the community center with a board of directors who will manage operations, similar to the way the Fair Board is set up. That board will be responsible for paying operation costs so that the county isn’t saddled with them. The building, which is already used as a local polling place, can be rented for family reunions and other community events that will provide the income for upkeep.
“This will all take some time to get set up and running, and it’ll be a work in progress for a while,” Rushing commented, “but I feel like it’s the best solution for everyone involved.”
Marietta Public Schools wins because they were able to donate a facility which they were maintaining, yet not getting full usage of.
“We are thrilled that we could fulfill a need for the county, and also ensure that the campus stays intact and is used for something that benefits so many people,” stated Naylor.
Greenville residents win because they won’t have the worry of wondering what will become of the campus.
And the county wins because they’re able to help a local fire department and a community.
“This was a tough situation, but with some help from Representative Cantrell and the generosity of the school, we were able to take it and really make it work for the good of a lot of people,” Rushing stated. “It’s a win-win-win, and that’s something that you just don’t get to do very often.”