Staff writer
The parking lot at Centre USD two miles north of Lincolnville was quiet and peaceful at 8:15 Monday morning. But a step inside the open front door revealed a different atmosphere. The air was abuzz with the sounds of students eating breakfast and chatting together. It was the third day in the district’s transition from two facilities to one.
Beginning with the first day of school Thursday, kindergarteners through fourth-grade students and corresponding staff are adjusting smoothly to their new surroundings at the integrated site.
Third-grade teacher Candace Tajchman sees several positives in the new arrangement. She said high school students would be able to do more things together with the elementary students.
“The kids look up to high school students,” she said. “They are their mentors.”
She also appreciates being close to all of the district’s teachers and staff — who can share resources, help solve problems, and give advice.
“It feels like home,” first-grade teacher Briana Methvin said.
Title 1 and co-fourth-grade teacher Jean Brunner was feeling slightly claustrophobic. Her classroom is in the school’s interior, across from the kitchen. It has no windows except for several high skylights between the room and the hallway.
“I like to be able to look out and see what’s going on around me,” she said.
She hopes to have a window installed in the solid wood classroom door.
Sixth-grade teacher Marci Cain said her classroom in the original high school building is smaller than the one she had for many years in the newer northwest wing. She said it would take some getting used to.
In general, students seem to be enjoying their new facilities.
“I like everything,” 6-year-old Kyle Peterson, a first-grader from Tampa, said. “I especially like the gym and my classroom.”
Chandler Hamilton, 9, a third-grader, said he likes the breakfasts and his classroom.
One kitchen serves all students, an addition of 78 from the previous year. The cooks have an extra-heavy load. Monday they served 130 breakfasts and 235 lunches.
“I don’t have a choice (about serving more students), but we’ll get it all figured out,” head cook Inga Nordstrom said. She arrives at work at 5:35 a.m. and finishes at 2 p.m.
Nordstrom takes care of the paperwork. Mary Ann Mille, former cook at the Lost Springs facility, is her primary assistant.
As an assistant, Mille now has less responsibility and spends all her time preparing meals.
“I enjoyed the move,” she said. “I think it’s a great thing, a step forward. The kids like it here. The teachers and staff made it so homey for them. It’s a positive thing.”
Kindergarteners through fourth-grade students eat in the north lunchroom. Fifth- and sixth-grade students, whose classrooms are in the original building, eat in a designated location in the high school lobby along with the other older students.
According to Superintendent/Principal Jerri Kemble, it was a great first week. She said student council members joined the staff in welcoming students on the first day of school.
“All of the teachers worked very hard to make sure everyone felt comfortable,” she said.
At a general assembly the first morning, teachers formed a human tunnel, and every student went through it.
“One teacher reported that every student went through with a smile on their face,” she said.
Kemble loves the new arrangement. She especially enjoys the opportunity to be “in the mix of everything.”
She said she finds it difficult to break away from the school to go to the district office to do paperwork.
“I feel much more engaged with all the students,” she said. “I enjoy working with a larger faculty and more kids.”
She said the new arrangement would give high school students many more opportunities for leadership and character building. They set examples for the younger students, she said.
Kemble said she received positive feedback from several parents regarding the transition:
“Everyone did a little extra to make it a great first step.”