Jun 7, 2015 3 min read

There was both sadness and joy last week as students and teachers at two elementary schools in West Greene School District left their buildings in search of summer break.

The longtime elementary schools, Graysville and Springhill-Freeport, closed their classroom doors for the final time Wednesday as the school district consolidates the grades and moves students into a sparkling new building at the middle-high school campus near Rogersville.

Both elementary schools held myriad memories for generations of students and teachers who spent time there.

The buildings were pillars in their respective communities for years. Springhill-Freeport opened in 1953, while Graysville Elementary, which many in the district referred to as the round building on the hill, had been in operation since 1970.

“It holds the community together,” said Tiffany Hart, who was Springhill-Freeport’s head teacher and has taught kindergarten there for 22 years. “It’s a gathering place for a lot of people, and it’s been a positive one.”

But as class sizes have decreased over the years, many teachers and school administrators agreed that the more than 300 students who will attend the new West Greene Elementary School in the fall will benefit from the school consolidation.

District Superintendent Thelma Szarell said the students will have more advantages and streamlined resources in the new building.

“Everybody from the get-go has been behind building a new school,” Szarell said. “They know we need something updated that’s more cost-effective for us to better utilize our resources.”

The school district approved construction plans in 2012, and there have been a few hiccups along the way. Construction crews are working feverishly to remove and rebuild a massive retaining wall that partially collapsed in November. A new wall is expected to cost the district $6.5 million – the entire building project, including the retaining wall, was supposed to cost about $15 million – and litigation likely will follow.

An estimate to renovate the two elementary schools was nearly as expensive as constructing a new building. Of course, the retaining wall situation will change that.

The school district also is expected to sell the two elementary school buildings and land to infuse money into the general fund or capital reserve account, although no plan has been set in motion as of now.

Meanwhile, most of the process has been met with little resistance from the public. There will be some attrition, Szarell said, that will likely include the loss of one physical education teacher, a special education teacher and one school librarian.

But Szarell said having one school will eliminate the isolation between students and allow them to interact with each other before entering middle school. The students also will be “afforded the same opportunities … and streamlined services,” while teachers and administrators will be able to “more effectively utilize resources,” Szarell said. Something as simple as choral practice and concert band being combined can be a big improvement with the consolidated classes.

Those are immensely important teaching tools.

So although there were a few tears shed last week, the new building will provide the students who pass through its hallways an excellent learning environment that will, it is hoped, better prepare them for their secondary education.