Decatur opens doors for another school year
DECATUR — In preparation for the first day of classes, the Decatur School District held an open house Aug. 11 at Northside Elementary, Decatur Middle and High Schools and Decatur PreK.
For the 550-plus Decatur students and their parents, the open house was the first chance to meet new teachers and to tour the changes to Decatur Middle School and the newly-restored Pre-K and Decatur Middle School fifth- and sixth-grade facilities.
Last March, the Decatur district decided to move the fifth-grade classes from Decatur Northside Elementary to Decatur Middle School. With the growth in the Decatur areas, Northside was near capacity, prompting the move in order to stay in compliance with state regulation on classroom space.
In addition to the fifthgrade classes, the board decided to move the Pre-K classes to the former board room and old art classrooms between the middle school and cafeteria. This move opened up enough classroom space to allow for future growth within the district for the next several years.
Over the summer, Doug Holly, director of maintenance and transportation, and his crew worked diligently to restore the northwest corridor at Decatur Middle School where the fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms are now located. Holly’s crew also completed reconfiguration on the Pre-K building. Work on both facilities was completed the day before the open house.
Throughout the day, students met with teachers, filled out remaining paper work and picked up their 2016-17 school-year books.
The day ended with a tour of the Pre-K building by the Decatur school board. The new classrooms gave additional work space the three Pre-K teachers lacked at Northside.