As 6-year-old Alvin Rogers walked through the new classroom wing at Sudduth Elementary School Sunday afternoon and entered the gymnasium, he gestured excitedly at the high ceiling, bright white floors and wide open space.
“The gym is his favorite room,” said Rogers” mom, Earlean, as she and her daughter, Tyleasha, 16, watched with amusement as Alvin spread his arms wide and looked up at the windows high above the gymnasium floor.
For Rogers and other students at Sudduth Elementary, the new, 10,000-square-foot wing and gymnasium serve as a vast improvement over years past, when physical education classes were held in an activity room with low ceilings and other classes were held on the school stage, in workrooms and closets, and in the church across the street, among other places.
“We had classes everywhere we could find space,” Sudduth Principal Lisa Thompson said.
With a student population of 1,093 students in kindergarten, first and second grades, the extra space was much-needed, Thompson said, but noted the school is once again “full.”
“It looks great, but we”re full again,” Thompson said. “Every classroom is taken and every closet is taken, again.”
Thompson and the Rogers family were joined at Sudduth Sunday by several of the school”s teachers, Starkville School District officials and the Starkville chapter of Parents for Public Schools as part of the “Building for the Future Showcase.” The event allowed the public to tour Sudduth, Ward Stewart Henderson, Armstrong Middle School and Starkville High School, where $26.5 million in bond money was used on extensive renovations and additions.
The bond issue funded the new classroom addition and physical education facility at Sudduth Elementary; a new classroom addition connecting Henderson and Ward Stewart schools and the renovation of Henderson school; a new sixth-grade classroom wing and cafeteria expansion at Armstrong Middle School; and a new addition, including classrooms and renovation of the original 1965 two-story classroom wing, at Starkville High School.
Starkville School District Superintendent Judy Couey has watched as construction took place since the bond issue passed in 2007 and said Sunday she was pleased to see students finally taking advantage of the new facilities.
“I”m ready to have instruction without the construction,” Couey said with laugh.
Katy Richey”s daughter, Anna, 6, attends Sudduth Elementary while her sons, Calvin and Bryan, are in fourth and fifth grades, respectively, at Henderson Ward Stewart.
“As a parent, I feel really good the district made this commitment to improve the schools,” Richey said. “It”s exciting to see the changes not only at Sudduth, but at the other schools, as well. There is more space and it”s just a nicer environment.”
Starkville School District Assistant Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin praised the community for approving the $26.5 million bond issue.
“With the community helping support our initiative, it allows our facilities to be top-rated and compete with any facilities across the state,” Gonsoulin said. “It has set a new expectation and a new standard for our district.”
Anne Buffington, president of the Starkville chapter of Parents for Public Schools, also commended the improvements.
“Obviously good facilities, I think, lend itself to learning,” Buffington said. “Anytime a child can walk in the morning and be in these beautiful facilities that are complete with all the technological bells and whistles, that”s just got to help a child improve his or her learning, but also make them feel better about their school environment and feel proud of where they go to school.”
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