The new Oglethorpe County Elementary School will welcome students from pre-K through fifth grade on Friday, Jan. 10.
OCES students and their parents will have the opportunity to view the new facility at an open house during the second week of January, but before the first day of school, school officials said.
“We know we’re behind schedule, though, due to not getting and passing the inspection the first go around,” Oglethorpe County School Systems superintendent Beverly Levine said at a Board of Education meeting on Dec. 3. “It should still be on schedule to move in, but the next few weeks will be pretty hectic.”
The final day of fall semester at OCPS and OCES will be Friday, Dec. 13. Dec. 16-18 are non-student days dedicated to moving facilities.
However, the moving process is already underway.
“It’s quite a challenge,” said Katie Baldwin, principal of Oglethorpe County Primary and Oglethorpe County Elementary schools. “We’ve been asking teachers to box and purge, but still teach.”
Teachers and custodians are moving any non-essential items to the new building, which is behind the current OCES on Fairground Road.
Baldwin said she is looking forward to having all students under one roof in the new building.
Specifically, the shared spaces in the new school are an upgrade from both facilities. The new gym is much more spacious, outfitted with bleachers for events, such as Honors Day.
“It’ll be great for just consistency in the grades, kids not having to move schools, or just moving to the other side of the school when they go from second to third grade,” Baldwin said. “As far as curriculum and instruction and teaching and all those sorts of things, it’ll just help us to all be together.”
Students and teachers will begin using the new building in January, but the project isn’t complete.
The current OCPS will be demolished, and bricks from that school will be used to build a pavilion at the new facility. In addition, paving from the front of the school to the road needs to be completed.
Levine said an official ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration are scheduled to be held in May, when the project is complete.
“We’re so thankful to be able to provide our kids with an awesome new facility,” Baldwin said.