May 15, 2002
New schools give East Bay students warm welcome
Students from closing elementary take field trips to ease transition
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Hoping to alleviate combined first-day-of-school plus new-school jitters, students from East Bay Elementary School spent part of Monday visiting the schools they will be attending in the fall.
When East Bay closes after this school year, the school's K-5 students will be primarily divided among four elementary schools: Courtade, Eastern, Bertha Vos and Cherry Knoll. To help ease the transition, students took field trips Monday to their new school so they could meet their future classmates and teachers, find the bathrooms and check out the lunchroom.
Staff, students and teachers at the host schools enthusiastically welcomed their future classmates and students.
"It was a very smooth visit, a very pleasant, relaxed and positive time," said Bill Smith, principal of Eastern Elementary school, which hosted 18 students who will be in grades K-4 next fall. "Each student had a host or hostess who guided them through class, lunch, recess and back to the bus."
Courtade Elementary School welcomed 94 students who will be in grades K-6 next fall, the largest projected group of East Bay students heading for another school. Two parents and some East Bay teachers also came along for the visit.
After a rousing welcome by school mascots, East Bay students headed to the class with students in their own grade. All students colored 'Me Pictures,' which will be posted around the school next September to provide a familiar face to new students. East Bay students also joined their future classmates for lunch, played on the playground and attended a school-wide assembly.
"It's been weird because we're not used to it here," said Elise Kaufmann, a fifth-grade student from East Bay Elementary School. "I went to East Bay for six years so this is different."
Kaufmann did find a positive angle to the change.
"I'll have more friends in seventh-grade because I'll have friends from both East Bay and Courtade," she added.
Jessie Crouch understands what it is like to go to a new school. She transferred to Courtade from Sabin during the middle of second-grade so she is sympathetic to the East Bay students' worries.
"I know what it is like for them," said Crouch, a fifth-grade student.
Not everyone was a new face, either.
"Some of them knew each other from soccer or gymnastics," observed Gail Mars, a first-grade teacher at Courtade. "One girl went to East Bay last year so she was hoping to see people she knew."
The visits were one of the ideas of a Transition Team that is helping to facilitate the school's closing and students' placement.
The 25-member team began meeting April 24, just two days after the TCAPS School Board's vote to close East Bay Elementary School. Members include parents, teachers, principals and social workers from the affected schools plus an executive committee. All are working to make the transition as smooth as possible for students and families.
Sixth-grade students and 20 fifth-graders also visited East Junior High Monday, the school they will attend next fall. These fifth-grade students will attend East Junior High for sixth-grade thanks to a special program developed by the transition team. Parents who enrolled their child in this program can avoid two school changes in two years.
"It is a golden opportunity for those students, they'll be part of the seventh-grade teaching team and be able to have music and physical education every day," said Linda Barker, principal of East Bay Elementary School and a member of the Transition Team. "The other half of the fifth-graders, about 20, will be going to the other four elementary schools."
Larry Johnson, principal of Cherry Knoll, said his school hosted 24 students Monday in grades K-5. The school also welcomed the new families at last week's Celebration of Achievement, where Cherry Knoll families were paired with East Bay families.
Before the East Bay students left Monday afternoon, staff took a group picture of all the kids in the school. This picture will be prominently posted next fall to greet both new and returning students.
"Everybody gets excited when new students come to school," said Johnson, who has been the principal at Cherry Knoll for nine years. "I think the new students are feeling pretty confident, the excitement is setting in for everyone."