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Education
Tyler Voters Support Seven New Elementary Schools
Tim Loper, director of facilities for the Tyler Independent School District, shows off Dr. Bryan C. Jack Elementary, opening in August 2007.
Elementary school students in Tyler have been given a tremendous gift by the citizens.
A $95 million bond referendum passed in 2004 is enabling the Tyler Independent School District to build seven new grade schools. Six of them are replacing old and outdated facilities‚ while a seventh is being added to relieve overcrowding at two other schools.
Two of the seven schools‚ Bell and Ramey‚ opened in 2006. Three more are scheduled to open in the fall of 2007 and the remaining two will open in 2008.
Behind the new bricks and mortar are state-of-the-art school design and furnishings. And at two other elementary schools‚ staff are taking steps to offer an International Baccalaureate program designed for students ages 3 to 12.
According to Tim Loper‚ director of facilities for the TISD‚ each of the schools is being built with the latest safety precautions‚ including cameras at all exterior doors and an access control system that keeps the doors automatically locked during school hours‚ with swipe cards issued to all teachers and authorized personnel.
“The front entrances are designed so parents and other visitors have to go through the office to get to the corridors where the classrooms are‚” Loper says.
Each new school is or will be equipped with wireless Internet access; each classroom will have four student computers and a teacher computer‚ and a computer lab will add 30 more machines. Materials in resource rooms have been digitized‚ so they can be accessed via the Internet for presentation in classrooms.
The schools are also highly energy efficient and are designed with “noisy” areas like the cafeteria‚ gym and music rooms separated from quiet spaces like the library. Interior courtyards provide a place for children and visiting parents to get fresh air and sunshine.
“We really did have great support from the community‚” Loper says. Residents realized that no major projects had been undertaken since 1995‚ and with population increases averaging 1.5 percent to 2 percent each year‚ the schools had 198 portable classrooms at the time of the referendum.
Meanwhile‚ the International Baccalaureate Organization in Geneva‚ Switzerland‚ has authorized its Primary Years Programme (PYP) to be offered at Rice Elementary School; an application for the program at Andy Woods Elementary School was pending at press time. According to Chalna Trawick‚ TISD director of advanced studies‚ both facilities are magnet schools‚ available to students who meet gifted criteria.
“PYP is based on a teaching strategy called ‘inquiry‚ investigation and research‚’ and students engaged through this approach can process much more than in conventional classrooms‚” Trawick says. “It’s very definitely a higher-level program‚ but all students have the opportunity to reach their highest potential.”
Story by Jim Elliott
Photo by Antony Boshier
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