The Valdosta Daily Times
July 03, 2008 01:49 am
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While students and the rest of the community enjoy the summer months, area teachers and school administrators are working to prepare for the upcoming school year. Much of the preparation began years ago when discussions of construction on a number of new schools within the Valdosta and Lowndes County school systems began. This year many of those changes will come to fruition.
The site that formerly housed West Gordon Elementary School will now be the home of the new S.L. Mason and will serve kindergarten through fifth grade students come August. The site of the old S.L. Mason Elementary School at 1605 Azalea Drive is expected to be renovated in the near future to house students attending the Valdosta Early College Academy, a joint initiative between the Valdosta City School System and Valdosta State University. Sallas-Mahone Elementary School will house students in grades kindergarten through five.
Deep-rooted history will not be lost as students and faculty are moved from Parker Mathis Elementary School to the new Westside Elementary School on James Road for the new school year serving Pre-K through fifth grade. The school dates back to 1955 and will continue to be utilized by the Lowndes School System to house the alternative school, New Horizons Academy and staff development classrooms and offices. A time capsule, buried at the school in 1997 and slated to be opened in 2020, will be relocated to Westside to continue the traditions that so many current and former students and staff are a part of.
Students will relocate to the new two-story facility that will serve 650-700 students carrying on a tradition that began in 1960 when Westside High School was created when the two black high schools in the county merged. Westside Elementary Principal Creacy Sermons stated, In Fall 2008, we will complete the circle that began almost 50 years ago. Once again, Westside will be a new school, this time, home of the little Vikings, and we at Parker Mathis are looking forward to it.
Lowndes also has the Pine Grove facility in the works. The location will include three school sites in one location a new Pine Grove Elementary School slated to open in 2010, a middle school to open in 2009, and a high school expected to be completed by 2013. These three facilities will serve the needs of northern Lowndes County, especially the Bemiss corridor, which has the most dense student population in the county.
All of these new construction projects are expected to help each system meet objectives of lowering school enrollment sizes as the community continues to grow. Traditions at each of the changing and transitioning facilities will be maintained as new traditions emerge as our area moves forward.
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