Hall County Schools are officially back in session, but two schools in the district are welcoming students back for the last time.
Oakwood Elementary School and McEver Arts Academy are set to merge for the 2025-2026 school year with construction for a new building already underway. As the schools prepare students and staff for their final year, both school principals shared how they plan to bring the communities together ahead of the change.
Jeremy Boleman, principal of Oakwood Elementary School, said the school is working to preserve its 67-year history while also looking forward by encouraging students to be active members in their community.
“One of the big things at Oakwood is we say that we're trying to make our students leaders,” Boleman explained. “And one of the biggest things is that leaders serve. So, we're trying to find ways to serve our community, and bring back some of the events that we've done in the past.”
Some of the events the school has maintained going into this school year included its annual Back to School Bash on July 24, where faculty provided over 450 backpacks with school supplies for students. Boleman has served as the Principal at OES for six years, however, he also has ties to McEver Arts Academy, where he started his teaching career.
Laurie Hitzges, who was named the principal of McEver Arts Academy in April, shared that she and Boleman have been collaborating to bring both schools together.
“We really need to focus on celebrating and honoring the history of the two schools, while also looking forward to the future and making this transition,” Hitzges said. “It's going to be bittersweet, I believe, for everybody that's involved, because these communities have been here for so long.”
Hitzges said both principals are trying to encourage the merging of the two communities by inviting both schools to each others’ events throughout the year and bringing staff together for the new facility’s beam signing ceremony on August 21.
Hitzges has worked in education for over thirty years and has served as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in both Florida and Georgia. Prior to taking the principal role at McEver Arts Academy, she served as the principal at World Language Academy Middle School in Chestnut Mountain.
The new facility, which has been referred to as “Replacement Elementary School #2” until a name is selected, is located at 5240 McEver Road in Oakwood. The school will be the second in the district to merge two elementary schools after Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary School replaced Riverbend and White Sulphur elementary schools this fall. The new school will feed into either Chestatee or West Hall high schools, depending on where the respective students would have attended before the merger.
