School’s back in session in Columbia County, and that’s no exception for students at Westmont Elementary School, who started classes Monday at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center (PAC).
For the past two years, students who would be attending Westmont have been going to either Brookwood, Evans, Lewiston or Martinez Elementary School as a new building has been under construction at Westmont’s Oakley Pirkle Road site.
Last week the school district gave notice to parents that the PAC would substitute for the Westmont campus for its first week as construction on the new facility is completed. The school hosted an open house, Sunday afternoon, to help acclimate parents and teachers to the unique arrangement.
Teachers and staff were stationed throughout the building, starting in the lobby, to explain how classes, registration, pick-up and drop-off would be organized during the transition.
The northwest entrance to the PAC building, next to its museum, will serve as the school’s main office. Grades will be divided into sections of the building—such as third graders in the auditorium, and kindergarten in the Windsor Club. The stage will serve as a provisional cafeteria, with packaged lunches delivered to students each day. Kids will be escorted to Evans Towne Center Park for recess.
Westmont administration partnered with the district’s curriculum directors to develop a lesson plan suited for all the grade levels, explained Principal Angie Young.
“We created a theme that we thought would be interactive and fun for all the students,” Young said. “Everything that we needed (we brought over), so that the students would be engaged throughout the week.”
Aurora Matocha, president of Westmont’s PTO, has daughter starting fifth grade this year. Hers was among the families who went to Lewiston Elementary, whose staff and administration she extols for their welcome and support during the rebuild.
“We made a new school home,” said Matocha, who notes parents had been comforted knowing that a return to Westmont was still imminent. “So that was hard to leave as well.”
There has been some uneasiness among families during a transitory period now in its home stretch, Matocha says, but she lauds the school district for answering parents’ questions and for making an accommodation that kids would find “an adventure.”
“Not everybody thinks this ideal and that’s fine. It’s not going to be everybody’s preferred choice, obviously,” she said. “But overall, the amount of help that we’ve gotten from the county to get this running as smoothly as we can get it to run has been really, really nice.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
