Every Grimsley student knows which bathrooms to avoid, which is pretty much all of them. If anyone’s wondering, those in the cafeteria are the cleanest. 

 

While Grimsley High School is full of beautiful outdoor areas, historical buildings and unique artwork, there are some parts, like the bathrooms, that are products of its long history. However, in 2025, the school has finalized plans to address some of the most pressing needs of the school. 

 

When students of Mr. Evan Post, an English and Philosophy teacher at Grimsley, returned from winter break, they were shocked to discover the door to his classroom had moved several feet down the hallway! His door was moved to make room for the new chair lifts that are currently being installed at the foot of the stairs. 

 

These chair lifts are meant to make it easier to travel from one end of the hallway to the other for students who cannot use the stairs. 

 

“We have a growing population of students who are wheelchair bound, so we have to address that,” Principal O’Donnell said. 

 

When they saw that the ramps they had previously used were not sufficient, the administration began to look at options at the end of last year for making the 3rd floor of the main building more wheelchair accessible. 

 

Construction began on the chair lifts on January 29 and should be completed by the end of February. 

 

The next project on the list will be the long-awaited renovation of the bathrooms in the Main building, the Vocational building, and in the Old Science building. The construction will take place at the end of the school year and into the summer, to be completed in time for next school year. 

 

“It’s a simple thing; it's a bathroom. But it’s the simple things that make life easier,” Mr. O’Donnell said. 

 

Another exciting development is the construction of a new complex for baseball and softball fields. In order to make room for the new Kiser Middle School building, the former baseball and softball fields were torn down. However, after completion of the Kiser building, most likely in the summer of 2025, construction will start on the new baseball and softball fields. 

 

With the move of Brooks Global Studies to another campus, their former building site will become the Grimsley softball and baseball complex. Preliminary plans for construction are in process, and the demolition of the old Brooks building is planned for the spring of 2025. The hope is that the softball and baseball complex will be opening in the summer of 2026. 

 

These smaller renovations are not part of the large renovation of Grimsley, and as of right now there are no definite plans for that. Grimsley is #30 on the master plan for Guilford County Schools. However, the administration saw the need for the chair lifts and the bathroom renovations, and was able to find the funds for the projects. 

 

One challenge that the administration faces for any plans to renovate Grimsley is the historical nature of the school and its campus. The Old Science, Vocational, Main, and Old Cafeteria buildings are on the historical list, and so they have to be mindful when they renovate those buildings, particularly the exterior. 

 

“We’re gonna have to get the input of all stakeholders, past and present and future to make sure that we’re honoring the building, the integrity of the building, the historical nature of the building,” Mr. O’Donnell said. “We also have to make sure that it’s meeting the needs of our students, not just today, but meeting the needs of our students in 50 years and what school will look like then.”