Julie Holloman is hopeful the new elementary school will help her and fellow faculty members “rally and pull together” for the first day of school on Friday.
“We’re all unified under one building, so that’s super special,” said Holloman, who teaches first grade. “It’s always good to start afresh with a new idea that it’s going to be a great school year.”
While students and teachers have used the interior of Oglethorpe County Elementary School since January, exterior construction, including parking lots, entrances and exits to the building and the grounds, wasn’t completed until this summer.
Faculty, staff and community members gathered in the gymnasium on Sunday for the official ribbon cutting, marking the end of the construction process. The building replaced both the former OCES and OCPS.
“It’s just an exciting celebration,” OCES principal Katie Baldwin said. “A long process of stressful times (and) great times. We made it through (construction), and we have an awesome new building to show for it.”
She said the new school features a gymnasium with bleachers, an increase in adult restrooms, improved security measures and sprinklers throughout the building.
“Facilities wise, the primary school was past its prime, unfortunately, and was requiring a lot of upkeep,” Baldwin said. “We needed a new primary school, and the elementary school had really outgrown itself.”
Baldwin also unveiled a Super Mario theme to “guide and inspire” the upcoming school year.
“We feel like it couldn't be more important because we’ve merged two schools into one, and we’ve become ‘Super OCES,’” she said. “And with this incredible new building, there’s no doubt that we’ve leveled up.”
Holloman said she hopes to see pride in her students and community members who helped fund the project.
“We are so happy to be here,” she said. “It is a big deal — a new building, a new school — to house everybody. Right now, we’re all here and we’re safe. I want to see them smile about this.”
Baldwin said she is excited to have access to the front entrance of the building, the parking lot and a “much longer” front drive to prevent traffic backups onto Comer Road. Holloman added that there will be “kinks” to work out, specifically with parking and figuring out logistics of the car rider system.
“It’s a big deal for us to keep things flowing,” she said. “Get our kids here, get them fed and have them set up for a successful day.”
Holloman, who taught first grade for five years at the primary school, said teachers and staff were a “little bit nervous” about starting at the new school.
“Many of us teachers, it’s hard for us to give up our old memories,” she said. “But letting go and saying ‘Yeah, I’ve got to create new memories,’ it’s just what you have to do.”
Despite the nerves, she said the school is a “new beginning” and “fresh start” for students and staff.
“We’re all in this together for the kids,” she said. “Whether they’re little (or graduating), we’re trying to make our kiddos be wonderful members of society.”