JE Dunn Construction recently celebrated the completion of a $3.5 million expansion of the acclaimed Ron Clark Academy (RCA).

Whimsical and ever evolving, the project entailed building a 24,000-square-foot, multipurpose Educator Training Facility abundant with mythical overtures and features—from dragons and castle walls to a Great Hall dining room inspired by Harry Potter.

JE Dunn donated its project fee, as well as more than 200 hours of preconstruction and other services.

“Working with Ron Clark and his staff offered an extraordinary opportunity for us to express JE Dunn’s commitment to community involvement and investment,” said Vice President Pat Arrington, senior executive for the project. “ It was also an incredibly rewarding personal experience. It is impossible to be around Ron and not get caught up in his passion for life and for transforming lives.”

“Magic maker”

At the building’s Grand Opening, RCA founder and mathematics and global studies teacher Ron Clark declared JE Dunn a “magic maker”—among companies and individuals whose contributions to the project helped to make RCA “bigger, better and more magical.”

“From the first moment to the last, JE Dunn shared our passion for this revolutionary facility, and they found a way to make our unique dreams and ideas become a reality,” Clark said. “They were prompt, efficient and committed to excellence, and their phenomenal team members were the true magic makers with this project." 

The new campus building includes a basketball gymnasium, six classrooms, dining area, catering kitchen, and multiple storage and office spaces.

Internationally applauded, The Ron Clark Academy is a nonprofit middle school noted for engaging students through academic rigor, passion and creativity, and for providing professional development training to visiting educators.

The expansion adds to the school’s stimulant-rich educational environment and enhances RCA’s capacity as a demonstration school—a place where visiting teachers, superintendents and administrators can observe best practices in action before participating in hands-on workshops. The school projects that next year alone, more than 5,000 educators will visit RCA for training.

The project’s architect of record is Collins Cooper Carusi.