‘Deferred but not denied,’ Fort Middle School’s new gym finally dedicated

Sonja Coaxum, the proud principal of Fort Middle School, is famous around the Muscogee County School District for her mantra declaring it “the best middle school in the world” whenever she gets the chance. Fort, however, also was famous for having MCSD’s worst gym – so small, it no longer met the minimum square footage the state requires for physical education, and the bleachers could fit on only one side of the basketball court.

Thursday night, Fort finally cut the ribbon on a gym befitting the school’s nickname.

When he became MCSD superintendent four years ago, among the first folks David Lewis met in Columbus was Coaxum, who reminded him “early and often about the need for this gym,” he told the crowd during the dedication ceremony.

Lewis reminded the audience Fort’s new gym is one of the projects envisioned to be funded by the 1 percent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax voters approved in 2009. But the slugglish recovery from the Great Recession the next five years produced a shortfall of approximately $30 million on the $223,155,784 list and resulted in Fort’s new gym becoming one of the delayed projects.

“Thankfully,” Lewis said, “you – those of you who voted and supported the SPLOST – we brought it forward as a result of the 2015 SPLOST, and here it is today.”

Coaxum said, “We are so, so very excited to be inside of this gym. It’s been a long time coming. We want to thank all of the citizens of Columbus, Georgia, for their support.”

Muscogee County School Board chairwoman Pat Hugley Green of District 1 said the ceremony is “a living testament of a project that was deferred but not denied, which is also a life lesson.”

The gym is part of the $4,190,000 budgeted for construction at Fort, where the project also includes remodeling the locker rooms and upgrading the school’s painting, flooring, wall base and kitchen hood.

Ron Murray of the Columbus architecture firm Neal, Kendust & Murray designed the project; Pound Construction of Columbus is the project’s construction manager at risk.

The project was 90 percent complete and within budget as of the Aug. 3 report the MCSD administration submitted for last month’s school board agenda.

Although the new gym is on Fort’s campus, all 12 of MCSD’s middle schools will use the facility for district-wide competitions, Lewis noted. Then he cautioned the students, “You get it new one time. It’s up to you to take care of it.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2017 at 8:29 PM with the headline "‘Deferred but not denied,’ Fort Middle School’s new gym finally dedicated."