Construction begins this month on a new $17 million Mableton Elementary School scheduled to open in the fall of 2012.

Mableton Elementary grew from a school that began in the 1800s serving grades K-12. For decades, it has been a tradition for community residents.

“We have grandparents and parents of children who attended Mableton Elementary in our classes,” Principal Kym Eisgruber said.

The present school has 450 students enrolled. “It’s a wonderful small school with a cozy, family feel,” she said. After the new building is built, enrollment is expected to double with space for 950 students.

“As new students and faculty arrive, we will take them under our wings and make the school our own,” she said.

“We are doing top notch teaching here,” she said. “Our scores for ESOL have gone up 60 percent.” The school earned a national School of Excellence designation last year, the first Title I Elementary School in Cobb to earn the honor.

Mable School, a private school established by Robert Mable, a pioneer citizen of Cobb County, was the first school in Mableton. It was located in a two-room log cabin in front of the Mable House on Floyd Road. Later, another private school, called the Fairview School, was built near the present site of the South Cobb Library. This continued in operation until after the Mableton School was established early in the 1880s.

In 1881, Mableton School was located under a brush arbor at the corner of Church and Center Streets. Books for the school had to be purchased by parents. Those who could afford tuition paid ten cents a week. Classes were held for two months in the summer and six months during the fall and winter so that children could help plant and harvest crops.

The first Mableton Public School opened in 1883 in a building owned by the Glore family. In 1928, a new Mableton High School was constructed at the site of the present Mableton School. The school burned to the ground in 1948 with no fire department to extinguish the blaze
The present Mableton School was rebuilt on the same site in 1952 with additions being built in 1954, 1956, 1965 and 1967.

The current school is cramped, with up to 13 trailers and the staff has had to be creative using space. Because of its age, some of the technology doesn’t fit with the wiring.
Parking, now a problem on days that the nearby church and funeral home holds a funeral, will be improved as well as traffic flow for parents and buses.

Construction is to begin this month on the new building, on a site directly behind the current school. The new Mableton Elementary is on track to open for the 2012-2013 school year, after the Board awarded a contract for construction March 24. Nix-Fowler Constructors of Mableton was the low bidder for the contract, awarded in the amount of $17,864,865.

The new building will be brick with shingle roofing and white trim. Classrooms will surround an outdoor courtyard area.

This project includes the construction of a new 61 classroom school adjacent to the existing Mableton Elementary School, demolition of the old school buildings, and development of the site for playgrounds, driveways, and parking.

Once the new building is complete, the old structure will be razed and become playground and recreation areas.

“The school will be a part of the community with a playfield that the community can use,” he said.
“It will be built over the next year while the current building is still being used,” said Bob Sussenbach, architect. “The row of old trees in front of the school will be saved,” he said.