Jacksonville students, parents meet teachers, explore new facilities

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Parents and students got their first peek at the brand new Joe Wright Elementary campus on Thursday at the district's meet the teacher event. Progress photo by Faith Harper

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August 24, 2012

Jacksonville students, parents meet teachers, explore new facilities

Faith Harper Jacksonville Daily Progress The Jacksonville Daily Progress Fri Aug 24, 2012, 08:50 AM CDT

JACKSONVILLE — New students and parents at Joe Wright and East Side Elementary eagerly waited outside the new school doors to meet teachers, drop off supplies, fill out forms and catch a first glimpse of the brand new buildings.

At Joe Wright, second-grader James Ferrer excitedly asked his new teacher, Autumn Shuttleworth, questions about reading.

“If this whole room was Jello, I'd be bouncing in it right now,” he said.

Ferrer said he is excited about reading, drawing and having a computer in his classroom.

“If the Magic School Bus was on that (computer) I'd be playing that because I like that game,” he said.

Ferrer's mother, Jilena Goodwin, said she is glad Shuttleworth will be teaching her son, but said the year will “be an experience for her” because Shuttleworth recently transferred from teaching the fourth- grade to second.

Fourth-grader Layla Wilson said she is excited about the stairs in the building because “I like climbing trees and jumping off of them.”

Wilson transferred from West Side, and said she will enjoy having a computer in the classroom.

“I never got to use computers at West Side unless I was taking an (Accelerated Reader test),” she said.

Wilson's mother, Ashley Luker, said she is thankful for the school's location.

“My house is right down the road, so I can walk her to school if I want to,” she said.

Each classroom has an interactive white board and a projector, and staff members said they are excited to put them to good use.

“I have a lot of ideas for things I have never been able to do before,” said librarian Judy Smith.

And as parents, students and community members toured the halls, teachers sighed a sigh of relief that their classrooms were finally put together.

“We could not get in until last Friday the 17th,” said music teacher Edie Jones. “We have been working so hard.”

Smith said she stopped counting after 600 boxes of books to put on the shelves. She said it took 12 hours a day for seven days to get the library in tip-top shape.

“It was pretty daunting to see empty shelves and a lot of boxes,” she said.

Jones, who said she has worked for the campus for 22 years, has never been more excited to start a school year. She said her classes can sing as loud and strong as they want because the room has soundproof walls.

“In the other room, we didn't really have the acoustics,” she said.

The two campuses were part of a $49.865 million bond passed by Jacksonville voters in 2010.

Superintendent Dr. Joe Wardell said construction crews will work in off hours and weekends to complete the simple finishing work that remains on the campuses, and thanked the community for making it all possible.

“The community was so supportive of allowing us to build,” he said. “They approved it, supported us through it and gave us the ability to do it.”

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Jacksonville students, parents meet teachers, explore new facilities

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