WINTER HAVEN — Everleigh Medina, a second-grader toting a “Bluey” backpack, required some support from her mother, Katherine Medina, as she trudged toward the entrance of Elbert Elementary School.
How did Everleigh, 7, feel about the first day of school?
“Nervous.”
Why?
“Because I’m shy.”
In a sense, all 695 Elbert Elementary students were starting anew as classes began Aug. 11 for Polk County Public Schools. The school had shifted for the previous two years to Scenic Terrace, a newly built, temporary location in Haines City, as the school district demolished most of the original Elbert structure from 1962 and spent $50 million to create a new and modern school.
Everleigh previously attended Lena Vista Elementary in Auburndale, but her family moved to Winter Haven over the summer.
Despite her unease, Everleigh quickly answered when asked what she looked forward to: “Lunch!”
Everleigh and her mother had gained glimpses inside the new building, painted saffron yellow and white on the outside, during an orientation visit. Katherine Medina said that her daughter seemed particularly excited to learn that the school, two stories on one end, contains elevators.
About 97,000 students began the new academic year Aug. 11 in Polk County Public Schools, with another 19,000 in charter schools, the district reported. Polk is the state’s seventh-largest district and ranks among the 30 largest in the country.
The district covered the cost of the Elbert Elementary replacement through funds generated by impact fees and a half-cent sales tax renewed by voters in 2018. The modernized school includes science labs, a TV studio, a media center, an early learning center, two playgrounds and designated areas for car lines and buses.
The project retained only a small section of the original buildings, now being used as the early learning center.
Back on home campus
Many students rode buses to the Scenic Terrace location, which has since been converted to the new site of Alta Vista Elementary School, district spokesman Jason Geary said. With classes returning to the original site at 205 15th St. NE, many families walked their children to school for the first day.
The new configuration for vehicles arriving at the school seemed to cause some confusion, as school employees using two-way radios tried to keep the traffic flowing to the right spots.
Julie Thomas, in her first year as principal after three years as assistant principal, mostly maintained a smile while coordinating the traffic control and greeting students and parents.
“It’s so beautiful,” Thomas said. “I love the landscaping. I didn’t like the color when I first came here, but it’s really grown on me. I think it blends really well.”
Elbert had never had a science lab, Thomas said. And the Scenic Terrace site lacked a playground, requiring students to be “creative” in their recess activities.
The attendance at an orientation meeting signaled the curiosity and enthusiasm of students and parents, Thomas said.
“I want to tell you, we probably had about 95% of our parents show up,” she said. “We were busy, busy, busy. The teachers would say, ‘I only had three kids not show up.’ There’s a lot of excitement to be back on our home campus, and the community has welcomed us.”
Thomas joined administrators and teachers in welcoming students as they disembarked from parents’ vehicles in the drop-off line. Mary Booher, a music teacher, wore a black-and-white top adorned with musical notes.
“I love your haircut,” Booher said to a girl arriving on the sidewalk, and then took her by the hand and walked her to the entrance to the cafetorium, where students and teachers gathered for breakfast before heading to classrooms. Like most schools in Polk County, Elbert is a Title I school, meaning all students receive free breakfast and lunch.
As Booher wrapped another student in a hug, the girl looked toward the large building and said with a smile, “It’s going to be way too much walking.”
Casey Reynolds, Elbert’s physical education coach, greeted returning students with hugs or elaborate handshakes.
Zoey Murray, a fourth-grader wearing a “Bluey” backpack, like Everleigh, arrived with her mother, Hope Murray. Zoey, 9, attended Garden Grove Elementary in Winter Haven the previous two years and had never attended Elbert.
Zoey summed up her first-day mood: “Excited, nervous and scared.”
She added: “I’m looking forward to getting on the A-B-C honor roll, or just passing fourth grade, basically.”
Heather Bravo walked toward the entrance with her six children, three of whom were Elbert students: Izabella, a third-grader; Ayden, a first-grader; and Arianna, a kindergartener. Izabella, wearing a Hello Kitty backpack, previously attended a private school but wanted to switch to Elbert, her mother said.
“I always wanted to,” Izabella said, then explained why. “Because I get free breakfast and free lunch.”
Zelda Coker, a third-grader, clung to her mother, Stephanie Coker, an exceptional-student-education teacher, on the covered walkway outside the entrance. Zelda, blank-faced, remained silent when asked about her return to school.
“She’s a little shy,” Stephanie Coker said. “She’s nervous — really nervous. It’s her first year as a big girl upstairs, so we’ve got some nerves going on.”
Zelda was not alone. As two brothers stepped out of their parents’ vehicle, tears slid down the face of the older one, a fourth-grader.
“I’m very excited,” said his brother, James, a second-grader. “He’s a little scared because he thinks he’s going to get lost, but I’m going to be with him.”
Excited about big school
Katrina Vega walked her three children toward the entrance — Josalina and Joseph, both third-graders, and Katalina, a first-grader. The family recently moved to Polk County from Connecticut, Vega said.
After touring the new facility during the orientation, Josalina was impressed.
“I liked the stairs and the elevator and how big it was,” she said.
After most of the students had streamed into the cafetorium, Thomas, the principal, attended to a boy and a girl fixed on the walkway, unwilling to move further. Thomas stood beside the girl, gently trying to coax her to join her schoolmates inside.
“Are you hungry?” Thomas asked the girl.
When that tactic failed, Thomas took a different approach.
“Come on, let’s go in,” Thomas said. “I’m hot. I’m sweating. Aren’t you hot?”
“I’m sad,” the girl answered.
The boy, unwaveringly attached to his mother, cried loudly, eventually calling out, “I don’t want to go to school. I want to go home.”
Speaking into her two-way radio, Thomas said that she had two students who needed escorts. Finally, the girl’s teacher appeared and took her by the hand, walking the student inside the building.
Many students, though, did not seem reluctant at all to begin the first day of a new school year. One boy dashed toward the door leading to the cafetorium. Two girls met with an ardent hug as one exclaimed, “I missed you!”
Polk County Schools Superintendent Fred Heid arrived to celebrate the new version of Elbert Elementary.
“If you’ve never visited this building in the past, it was an older facility, and you reach a point with a building that there’s only so much you can do to enhance it,” Heid said. “To be able to completely rebuild the campus and give the kids and staff and community this quality of a building, with all of the different academic supports it has inside — academic opportunities and art rooms and music rooms, those types of things — I’m thrilled. I think it sets the tone for success.”
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Tears and smiles: Students return to rebuilt Elbert Elementary as school year opens
Reporting by Gary White, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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