- December 30, 2024
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Pam Fielder, a kindergarten teacher at Tara Elementary School, asked her students to gather on the new, colorful carpet at the front of her classroom.
They all sat quietly and listened as Fielder gave them instructions on their next math assignment before they were dismissed back to their new desks and chairs.
Fielder and her students made up one one of the classes that moved into the renovated building at Tara Elementary School.
The renovations of Building 1 and Building 2, along with the four-classroom addition that now connects Building 1 and Building 2 were completed before the start of school Aug. 12.
Work on the renovations at both Tara Elementary and Carlos E. Haile Middle School continues.
Fielder said moving from the portables to the newly renovated building in time for the new school year was a fresh start.
“It’s phenomenal to be in a brand new building,” Fielder said. “Being in the portables was a positive experience, but it’s so nice to be back in the building with my colleagues across the hallways so we can collaborate with each other.”
Laura Campbell, the principal at Tara Elementary School, said the vision to connect Buildings 1 and 2 to add four classrooms for pre-K students and other primary grades was years in the making.
The addition, which increased the student stations on campus from 701 to 781, gives the school room to grow in enrollment as well, Campbell said.
The project, which includes a campus-wide renovation and the construction of the addition, began with design in July 2022 and construction in June 2023. The project is 40% complete, with the renovations of Buildings 3, 4, 5 and 6 still to be done.
The queuing loop was completed in time for the start of the 2023-2024 school year and the renovation of Building 1, which includes the administrative area as well as the cafeteria, music and art classrooms, were completed in time for the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
The main entrance is now a single point of entry to make the campus more secure.
Other than a few finishing touches, the project is expected to be complete by August 2025. The project has a budget of nearly $35.3 million.
The unique feature of Tara Elementary’s renovation will be the 200-foot perforated screen with the name of the school as well as images of children on the screen.
The images of the children on the fence will vary in size to demonstrate the growth of the students within the school from kindergarten to fifth grade.
At Haile Middle School, Technology Student Association students had access to the new technology lab in the finished 10-classroom addition.
The lab is equipped with a robotics arena for the students who participate in Vex robotics competitions. It also has four mini arenas around the classroom, Nikitopoulos said. She said the new lab will allow the TSA program to grow.
The new addition also is home to the school’s agriculture classroom. Jessica Jones, the agriculture teacher and FFA advisor, is thrilled to have her classroom closer to the barn outside. Her students no longer have a 10-minute walk to get to the barn, greenhouse and other agriculture facilities.
Haile Middle Principal Irene Nikitopoulos said it was jaw dropping for parents to see the new classrooms in the addition and renovated buildings during Back to School Night in August with its new furniture, technology, whiteboards and more.
“It’s basically a brand new school,” she said.
She estimated approximately 40% of the work on the campus-wide renovation and addition was completed over the summer.
She said the construction crews with Halfacre Construction had their run of campus without students there for the summer.
Now all that is left is for the locker rooms to be renovated next summer along with finishing touches on the $46.2 million project.
“They wanted to limit (the final work on the project) to non-instructional space, and (the locker rooms) weren't vital to have renovated for the start of the school year,” Nikitopoulos said.
