Root Moves to Temporary North Hills Campus
September 19, 2008 - Root Elementary School has moved into swing space in a temporary modular campus for the school year while the school’s campus is renovated. Moving into the temporary campus just days before school started was hard work for the school’s teachers and families. Principal Chip Mack enters the Harbor, the administrative building at Root's temporary campus. |
 Root Elementary students listen closely to their teacher in classroom at Root's temporary campus. |
 Student artwork decorates the entry to the Dolphin Ridge Building for second and third graders. |
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“The teachers really put things together,” said Root principal Chip Mack. “Our staff is committed to making things work. They worked hard. They were here late at night and on weekends. We were ready for the children on the first day and we continue to get things in order.”
The Root campus at North Hills was readied just days before school was to begin Monday, August 25. Four of the school’s five modular buildings were ready for staff to move into the third week of August, so classroom space was open, as well as the media center and administrative offices. WCPSS movers began bringing in the boxes and equipment
Fourth-grade teacher Kathy Johnson said teachers wanted everything just right for the students first day of classes and they spent long hours at the school the weekend before opening.
“I left early on Saturday night at 9:30 and I think there were still people here. Several days were like that,” said Johnson. “There didn’t seem to be enough time, but come Monday morning, wow, you wouldn’t know that it was the Cinderella shift coming in at 12 fixing this, getting the school ready. It was like the elves and the shoemaker. It was beautiful shoes in the morning.”
Johnson said the school’s veterans worked excitedly preparing their teacher space.
“We’re a small school and it’s really highly concentrated with long term professionals, people that have been doing this for years,” said Johnson. “I’ve been in many schools and this school has more staff that are willing to do whatever it takes. I have never seen such a concentration of people with such experience and dedication.”
Teachers and parents worked together to dress up the campus with a beach theme. A map similar to a water park resort directs visitors around the campus. The administration building is named the Harbor. The youngest students are in the Pirates Cove. The building for third and fourth graders is known as Dolphin Ridge. The older students attend class at Surfers Ridge.
“We want to have fun with it,” said Mack. “We want the children to be involved in the fun and wanted our parents to identify with it. Our parents came up with the idea for beach themes. It’s helped pull us together and helped us enjoy the move.”
Media specialist Betty Sledge managed the move of 16,000 books, computers and equipment into the new facility.
“It was a phenomenal move. I have been in education for 28 years and never experienced anything like this. In the end, it was easy,” said Sledge. “We had some wonderful movers from Wake County that helped. They have it down to a science. It was doable and I was happily surprised.”
Sledge praised the school community for the way they helped.
“The parents have come in and been amazing,” said Sledge. “Parents were in here helping teachers put books away, unpack boxes, doing whatever was necessary to help that first day be so special for these children.”
Sledge said the temporary campus provides plenty of space and has equipment the old campus didn’t have.
“It was surprising just how spacious it is and the shelving that we have,” said Sledge. “The TV system, for example, is something that we did not have at the old Root that we have now. We have some new capabilities with computers.”
Students made daily visits the first week to the media center where students received their meals. The fifth modular building opened Sept. 9 providing the school a cafeteria, as well as a multi purpose room and classrooms for the art and music teachers. In the first weeks, teachers made do in their classrooms taping chart paper to the wall, as they waited for backordered white boards to be delivered and installed.
The move into the temporary campus on a tight schedule was a lot of hard work, but the principal says the staff is now even closer.
“I feel like our staff has always been a close knit staff where they work with one another,” said Mack. “They are professional in their work with one another, but I think this has drawn them even closer together. They feel like they are all a part of a team. It has added to our teamwork. It fits right in with our leadership magnet theme.”
The school community’s year in the temporary modular campus will speed up the construction work at their campus and they’ll avoid construction disruptions. At the end of the year, teachers and students will return to a new school on its old campus.
“The new space will compliment a great staff,” said Johnson. “The school is just a great school, and now we will have facilities that match it.”
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