Colorful new school ready for students

Homepage

Related Photos

Teachers gather in the library of Tahlequah’s new Heritage Elementary School while Tahlequah Public Schools executive director of technology and operations, Terry Garrett, talks about traffic patterns at the school, which opens Wednesday. Staff photo by Cathy Spaulding

Discussion

August 9, 2012

Colorful new school ready for students

Tahlequah’s Heritage Elementary opens Wednesday

By Cathy Spaulding Phoenix Staff Writer The Muskogee Phoenix Thu Aug 09, 2012, 12:38 AM CDT

— TAHLEQUAH — Elementary students in southern Tahlequah will start school under a rainbow of hues Wednesday.

Tahlequah’s newest school, Heritage Elementary, is ready to welcome more than 400 students.

And there is room to grow, said Terry Garrett, TPS executive director of technology and operations.

The 69,843-square-foot school, 333 Southridge Road, was part of a $30.3 million bond issue voters approved in 2009. Garrett said the building cost about $13.1 million.

Garrett said the new school serves the southern part of the district while Greenwood and Cherokee elementary schools serve students in the northern part.

Sequoyah Elementary was converted into a pre-kindergarten school. With the completion of Heritage, TPS redrew elementary school boundaries. Because Sequoyah located near the center of town, its former students will attend Greenwood, Cherokee or Heritage.

Heritage Elementary principal Lacie Davenport called the new building “absolutely amazing.”

“It’s such a modern structure,” said Davenport, who was principal at Cherokee Elementary in Tahlequah before taking the new position.

The new school features a “bell tower” entrance that reaches nearly three stories. Sunlight streams through three shades of colored glass.

The curved hall features a sloping ceiling. An overhang allows natural light to stream into classrooms.

Garrett said the new 30-classroom school will serve kindergarten through fourth grade. The school has extra space if officials decide to move fifth grade from Tahlequah Middle School to the elementary schools.

Heritage also features two computer classrooms, a gymnasium and a library/media center. The gym has a separate room for occupational and physical therapy, Garrett said.

The school’s cafetorium, a combination cafeteria and auditorium, features a stage. The stage adjoins the music classroom and has a handicapped access ramp, Garrett said.

Davenport said she expects about 450 students on the first day of class.

“The staff has been working here all summer long to get ready,” she said.

Garrett said the school’s original target completion date was October 2011. However, the school superintendent at the time had some design changes, which delayed completion. Garrett said the school was accepted from its contractor as “substantially complete” and ready for occupancy in April.

Items yet to be completed include a jogging track and playground, Garrett said. He said the school is by a park and can use a city playground.

Garrett said the school’s teachers include some from other elementary schools as well as some new hires.

Reach Cathy Spaulding at (918) 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.