The district consolidated its school district from one preschool, four elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school in 2019[3] to two elementaries, an intermediate school, a middle school and a high school by 2023,[2] going from the ACS Early Learning Center, West Elementary, East Elementary, Morrison-Gordon Elementary, The Plains Elementary, Athens Middle School and Athens High School to East Elementary, Morrison-Gordon Elementary, The Plains Intermediate School, Athens Middle School and Athens High School. The remaining elementary schools, East Elementary and Morrison-Gordon Elementary (both having been demolished and replaced by new buildings on the same sites[4][5][6]) previously served students from kindergarten to sixth grade but are now preschool-3. The Plains Elementary was not demolished but expanded, and is now The Plains Intermediate, now serving grades 4-6.[7]
Chauncy Elementary was closed in 2012[8][9] but was not demolished, housing the school district's standalone preschool, the Athens City Early Learning Center, for a brief period before the students were moved to the new preschool programs at East Elementary and Morrison-Gordon Elementary respectively in 2022.[10][11] A portion of the building now houses the school district's administrative offices,[12] with the remaining portion of the facility (between 60%[10] and two-thirds[11]) being leased to the Athens-Meigs Educational Service Center.
The old East Elementary building was demolished from 2019 to 2020,[13] with the look of the new building having been inspired in part by the even earlier "East Side Elementary"[14] (later replaced by the previous East Elementary building). The current building opened in the fall of 2021.[6]
West Elementary School (41 Central Ave.) was demolished in 2023 (costing $900,000).[15][16] Nothing has yet taken its place; the school board rejected a proposal from the city to buy a portion of the site to build affordable housing (in the form of four duplexes) in late 2024.[16]
The district will build a new $58–60 million high school to replace the current Athens High School, which for some time has been in somewhat of a state of disrepair,[17] breaking ground in June 2025 and with completion estimating to be in 2027.[18]
