Hundreds of students crowded the halls of the new John T. White Elementary School looking for their classes at the new East Side campus.
Dad Joseph Moore took his three children to the school, navigating from the cafeteria to the third-grade hallway with his youngest Patrice, hoping his fourth and fifth graders found their own way to the classrooms.
"It's a little hectic, but it's the first day at a new school," he said. "Everyone will figure it out soon enough."
Patrice, meanwhile, was excited to see many old friends from Lowery Road Elementary at her new school. "It's easy to come to the new school because I know most of the people here," she said. "It's a big school and nice."
The $11.8 million campus is among five new schools opening in the Fort Worth school district today. The others are Rosemont Elementary, McClung and Benbrook middle schools and the new Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences, a specialty high school focusing on medical career pathways.
White, Rosemont, McClung and Benbrook are new buildings built under the 2007 bond program and include various environmentally friendly features, such as a geothermal heating and cooling system.
This is Interim Superintendent Walter Dansby's first day of school since taking the reins of the district in June. Dansby, who formerly oversaw the district's bond program as deputy superintendent, was greeting families and students at White Elementary this morning. So far, he said, he isn't nervous about the new school year as interim.
"No butterflies. I've been in this district 37 years as an employee and another 12 as a student here," Dansby said. "The first day of school is always exciting."
At tomorrow's school board meeting, trustees will begin discussing the search process for a new superintendent. Melody Johnson resigned from the post last spring.
What a great investment! Education is so important and to combine that with the incredible technolgy of geothermal hvac is brilliant!
I am so grateful to see a group of leaders that have the vision to implement geothermal and the fiscal intelligence to take advantage of it's economic benefits. I know that UNT is near there and that Jay Egg does work with them, did he engineer the geo systems?
Posted by: kate walton | August 22, 2011 at 12:20 PM