Posted 11:05 pm Tuesday, March 16, 2010
New Campus One Of Five From $124.9M Bond Package
By EMILY GUEVARA
Staff Writer
Clarkston Elementary School students had a bit more incentive than the rest of their peers to return from spring break.
Staff Writer
Clarkston Elementary School students had a bit more incentive than the rest of their peers to return from spring break.
Monday marked the first day in the new school for students, faculty and staff at Clarkston.
Demolition already has begun on the 50-year-old campus they once called "home."
And come this August, an 80-space parking lot, a playing field with walking track, basketball court and playground will sit where the old campus once stood.
"It's just fabulous," TISD Superintendent Dr. Randy Reid said while taking a walk through the campus Monday.
Reid said he was excited the students had the opportunity to move into the campus this school year. If they had waited until next year, the fifth-graders wouldn't have had that chance.
The $14 million campus is the first of five new schools Tyler ISD is building as part of a $124.9 million bond package approved by voters in November 2008.
The new schools that still must be completed are Griffin, Orr, Woods and Jones/Boshears, the latter of which combines Jones Elementary and the St. Louis School-Wayne D. Boshears Center for Exceptional Programs, which is a school for special needs students.
In addition to new technology, furniture and climate control -- that last one is huge -- that comes with this new school, it also has a character all its own.
A couple of paintings, bronze statues and a courtyard with various "learning centers" are just a few of the additions that make this campus uniquely Clarkston.
As the students exited from their vehicles and filed into the gymnasium Monday, the excitement was palpable.
"Woohoo, we're here, finally," said art teacher Mary Ann Post as students walked by.
Teachers were strategically stationed every few yards, greeting students by name and welcoming them back from spring break and to their new elementary school.
Ms. Post was stationed about midway between the drop-off point and the gym, and as students greeted her, she talked about the joys of having a new campus.
"It's wonderful," she said. "I just can't believe it. I have a beautiful new art room. It's large. (The) kiln is coming."
Ms. Post said her art room opens out to the courtyard where students can paint or draw on tables outside. A model of the solar system was created in colored concrete for the students to enjoy as well.
Students and teachers had mixed emotions.
"Today is kind of a sad day," said one girl as she looked over at the old campus that is still standing.
"Today is kind of a sad day," said one girl as she looked over at the old campus that is still standing.
Ms. Post said that some children were asking about the old school -- why is it still there? And what's taking so long to demolish it?
But once inside, they seemed to bask in the reality of new classrooms complete with SMART boards, some new furniture and a hint of that just-new smell.
Fifth-grader Brittany Petty, 11, said she is thrilled the students no longer have to walk outside to get from class to class. In the old school, most, if not all, doors opened to the outside so students had to put on their jackets or sweaters just to leave the classroom. Now, they can go anywhere they need to in the comfort of the hallways.
The Clarkston Caf? signs that hang from the serving lines in the cafeteria also were a big hit with the students. They no longer call it the cafeteria -- it's the Clarkston Caf?.
"It went past my expectations," 10-year-old Spencer Walston, a fifth-grader, said.
School Principal Kathryn Letsinger said she was pleasantly surprised by the glitch-free first morning at the campus.
"We expected it to be like the first day of school," she said, referring to the amount of parents who walk in with their kids. But it was far from it.
In fact, the orderliness was somewhat remarkable.
Students were directed by a series of teachers from their cars to the gymnasium where they sat in groups according to their teacher. Once the bell rang students walked to their classes again in near-perfect lines.
And by 9 a.m. all students were working quietly in their rooms.
Ms. Letsinger credited a few pre-spring break practice runs for the glitch-free morning.
"It was just like another day at Clarkston, only better," Ms. Letsinger said.
