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Southside Elementary moves into new classrooms
BY MARK J. CRAWFORD, Telegraph Editor
January 27, 2006
To say that personnel at Southside Elementary were thrilled to finally begin
moving into new classrooms last week would be an understatement. In fact,
Principal Bill McRae called the classrooms "sweet."
Southside was able to replace aging portables this year with much anticipated new space.
A total of 16 new rooms have been occupied-14 classrooms and 2 computer labs. First-,
third-, and fifth-grade students are now occupying those classes, and the entire school
travels to the labs to use state-of-the-art software that tracks student performance in
reading, math and writing-the areas most stressed in this age of standardized testing.
"The labs are really top notch," McRae said. "The real value is the reports that we get
give us really quick assessments on exactly where the kids are in just about anything that
they're doing, then we use that to modify instruction. That's the key to the whole deal."
Between the classrooms are restrooms and resource rooms that can be used for badly
needed storage space and individual instruction.
"I love it. Lots of space, storage, new furniture-it's great," said first-grade teacher Amy
Hall.
Another first-grade teacher, Vicki McKinney, agreed. "I absolutely love it," she said,
although she's now going to have to get the students not to lean back in their new and
bigger chairs. Chalk it up to growing pains.
Work continues at Southside in a second phase. Rooms in the school's first wing were
also vacated and that space is being renovated for preschool, ESE and gifted students, as
well as office space. The school will also need additional sidewalks to finish tying the
new buildings to the rest of the campus.
Standing in the classrooms, you would never know they were not permanent, but they
could be moved if the need arose. Though they are concrete, they are still portable.
The school was able to get the same floor plan with the concretables as with permanent
construction, saving the district between $260,000-$300,000 in the process. According to
J.E. Mott, the school facilities director, the cost of permanent construction would have
been around $2.1 million, excluding the additional cost of sidewalks, canopies and new
furniture. For the same price, the district was able to get all of that with the concretables,
and even a new and larger basketball court to be constructed in the near future.
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