By PAT NEWMAN
Staff Writer

A crew of able-bodied volunteers moved furniture, equipment and learning materials into the new Joseph Sams School Saturday in preparation for the opening of their school year Sept. 7.

Built with donations and lots of love, the 8,500-sq. ft. facility, can now serve as many as 70 children with mild to severe physical and intellectual disabilities.

School director Lana Carr and chief fund raiser Janet Smola have set up their respective offices amidst a hodgepodge of boxes and equipment, and expected the faculty to start organizing their classrooms this week.

Just a year ago, dignitaries broke ground for the school on a wooded lot across from the Fayette Medical Center. The school has served the needs of special children for 16 years. Today, the brick, colonial style structure will provide a home for a program that has continued to thrive in a variety of settings.

Having a building that meets the needs of its students, from the wheelchair-accessible doorways and bathrooms to the observation windows and bright commons area, is a welcome change for staff and, according to Carr, nothing was omitted from the construction wish list. In fact, Smola noted that many things, such as the wooden doors, were upgraded in quality by the suppliers.

A brief tour of the school revealed a floor plan that divides the preschool from the elementary joined by corridors leading into a huge, windowed room. “We'll be able to use this room for working on gross motor skills and PE,” Carr said. It will also be used as a cafeteria. There is an art room large enough to accommodate two or three teachers and their students, and a media room stacked with books to be organized by the Girl Scouts.

A computer room and speech therapy room with a one-way observation window are just down the hall.

Children from age 2 and a half to 18 are taught by a professional staff of educators and specialists on an extremely low teacher-pupil ratio. There is one teacher for every two students at the preschool level and one teacher for every three students at the elementary level. “This is one of the reasons parents choose the Sams school for their children,” Carr explained.

The school draws students from seven counties in the metro area and is the only privately operated school of its kind in the Atlanta area. While tuition does not exceed $5,000 per child, Smola estimated it costs $17,500 annually to educate one child. “Our goal is to raise $350,000 a year,” Smola said. Successful fund-raising has allowed the school to operate without a deficit for going on 16 years.

The land for the new school was donated by the Georgia Baptist Health Care Systema and the overall cost of the property and building is about $1.3 million.