This is the quietest this cafeteria will be, Alvarez said.
Alvarez said she s excited for the students to see the new building and can t wait to see the first face that walks into the building.
She said she s eager for them to see the playground, which has a wide open field, three different playground sets and a basketball court.
Board Chair Leanetta McNealy said she was tempted to check the bottom of her shoes as she walked into the school to make sure she wasn t tracking dirt inside. This school is so beautiful and new and I didn t want to be the first one to mess it up. Of course in a few days hundreds of little feet will be tracking in dirt and water, and gum, and all sorts of messes, but that s okay because this school is meant to be lived in, McNealy said.
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The Gainesville Sun Editorial Board
Alachua County Public Schools Superintendent Carlee Simon tries to avoid the term “rezoning.” She prefers the term “re-imagining” when discussing the comprehensive changes being considered by the school district.
Rezoning is certainly a loaded term. School Board and district officials dodged a comprehensive rezoning for decades, in order to avoid the controversy that comes with redrawing the maps that determine where students attend school.
But now overcrowded schools and racial equity issues are forcing a district-wide rezoning to be done. Just building additional schools in high-growth areas on the west side isn t a solution, instead creating new problems for the district’s finances.
Earlier this month, the Alachua County School Board took the first step in what I believe will be a historic journey for our students, families, staff and the entire community.
Rather than creating a new attendance zone for the new Elementary School I under construction in the southwest Gainesville area, the board voted to relocate the entire student body and staff of Terwilliger Elementary to the Elementary I campus for the 2021-22 school year. The board also agreed that the families of other local elementary school students could request a zoning exception for their child to attend the new school for that year.
After weighing several options, the county’s public school board has agreed to take a closer look at closing Terwilliger Elementary and sending its students to a new school farther west.
Five options were up to be finalized Tuesday night by the public school board to fill the future, yet-to-be-named Elementary School I near Southwest 122nd Street. Selling the Terwilliger Elementary School property was the latest proposal, suggested earlier this month.
“We have growth in the west, the sprawl in the west that is necessitating this,” said school board member Tina Certain. “We’re going to have to shift students around and we’re going to have to make some hard decisions. We’ve seen the financial analysis and it says that opening (Elementary School I) and doing nothing else is going to cause a significant strain on our budget.”