Gainesville City Schools re-opened Tuesday morning after the holiday break, and some students at Centennial Arts Academy found themselves occupying brand new classrooms.
A two-story addition to the school was completed on December 13, 2016, according to information shared at Monday night's Gainesville School Board work session. Teachers spent part of their break organizing their classrooms, and they finished the job Monday on a teacher work day.
"It's going to be a nice change after having been in modular units for so many years," said Principal Leslie Frierson. "It's going to be like a brand new year for the students."
Currently, Centennial is home to 920 students, ages kindergarten through 5th grade. That will change in fall 2017 when they share their space with the students from Enota Multiple Intelligences Academy. The Enota students will go to school on the Centennial campus while a new Enota is under construction.
Frierson said it will take a bit of juggling.
"[For now] we just moved our 5th grade and our 2nd grade," Frierson said. In the fall, students in the 2nd through 5th grades will occupy the new building. The idea, she said, was to minimize the moves during the short winter break.
The new addition at Centennial consists of 28 homerooms, along with new music and art rooms.
The school board plans a ribbon cutting for the new building later in the month.
