Friday marks the last day of school for the Hall County School District, and with it, three of its elementary schools prepare to close the doors to their buildings for the last time.
While McEver Arts Academy and Oakwood Elementary School will close to form Everwood Elementary School, World Language Academy’s primary campus will move into Oakwood’s current building.
WLA’s current elementary school building on Winder Highway in Flowery Branch will be demolished with a new campus to be built on the lot in its place. The current facility has an extensive history within the southern Hall County community, having previously been the home of Chestnut Mountain Creative School of Inquiry.
As the school prepares for the move, officials invited former students and staff from both communities to bid farewell to the building on May 18.
Chestnut Mountain moved into the Winder Highway campus in the early 1960’s. At the time, the building was an upgrade from a two-story wooden building that was built in the 1800’s. According to the school’s website, the first floor of the building was a classroom, while the second floor was a Masonic Hall. In 1996, a two-story wing was added to the Winder Highway campus, giving it a capacity for 550 students.
Community member Keith Reed attended Chestnut Mountain in 1964. As he stood in the school’s cafeteria for the first time in over 50 years, he shared that he was overcome with emotion from memories he made while attending the school.
“I just stood in a classroom 10 minutes ago,” he said. “That was the last classroom I walked out of 55 years ago, and I can still see the teacher, and I can still hear the students, and I can still feel what I was feeling on the last day of school here... I'm a great grandfather already, and I feel like a child again because I'm walking up and down the halls.”
Chestnut Mountain moved to its current campus on Union Church Road in Flowery Branch in 2008. The same year, WLA formed and moved into the school’s former building. The school is a school of choice, meaning students are not required to live in-district to attend.
David Moody, who served as the school’s first-ever principal, shared what makes the building feel like “home.”
“The building is special because of the memories and the experiences,” Moody said. “When we started, the parents jumped in from various cultures, got involved and made this school what it is. It's a community school. The building represents that, because of the memories, but these schools are going to keep going on. The people make the school, not the building.”
WLA’s elementary school is expected to reside at the former Oakwood Elementary campus for two years. No plans have been announced for McEver’s campus.
