Old B.C. school will soon be gone
Published 5:00 am Tuesday, July 30, 2002
When students return for another year of classes at Bogue ChittoAttendance Center next week, they may realize some big changes areabout to come to the campus.
The old Bogue Chitto School building is scheduled to be torndown within the next few weeks by a Jackson salvage company.
“Things have gone very well. They’re finished with the asbestosremoval and waiting on an inspection,” said Bogue Chitto PrincipalBobby Allen.
During the summer, school officials, some alumni and salvagecompany representatives have cleared the building of the mostvaluable and sentimental items.
“We tried to use what we could out of the building, either onBogue Chitto’s campus or at another school,” said Superintendent ofEducation Perry Miller.
The building became property of the salvage company when acontract was signed in May, but the company did allow some itemsleft in the building to be taken out after that time.
Some alumni were able to gather a few books or workbooks thatwere not going to be used by the school district.
The school letters from the center of the blue velvet curtain inthe auditorium were also taken as a memento.
Long-time school librarian Tomma Moore was able to get thewooden doors to the auditorium, which will be used for the newschool.
“I plan on making corner entertainment centers to put mytelevisions on in the library,” she said.
Moore also salvaged pictures of former teachers andadministrators for use in the school library.
The building is now considered “off-limits” as the salvagecompany works to clear it further in preparation for thedemolition, said Allen.
“I have already made contingent plans to reroute buses toanother part of the campus to avoid traffic in the area of the oldbuilding,” he said. “We try to keep it as safe as we can for thekids.”
The building does not have any doors and has few windows as thecompany salvages as much materials as possible.
The now graying building that once was glimmering white wasdeemed unsafe a few years ago.
“The building is in bad shape,” said Miller.
Students have since moved to a new elementary building that wasbuilt on the campus near the deteriorating building.
Since it was vacated, numerous alumni have stopped by for onelast look at the building where they received their education, saidAllen.
“Personally I hate to see it go because it’s a beautiful oldbuilding, but I know it has to because financially you can’t keepit up,” he said.