Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993 TAG: 9309020448
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON RICHERT STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For the first time since it opened in 1923, the school is undergoing renovations to increase its classroom space, add a multipurpose room, install air conditioning, a new heating system and new windows, and make the school handicapped accessible. The construction won't be completed until August 1994.
For many in the neighborhood, that means sending children to three other schools: the kindergartners to Fishburn Park Elementary, first- and second-graders to Raleigh Court Elementary and third-, fourth- and fifth-graders to the Morningside annex at Madison Middle School.
"Of course, we're all sad to see our neighborhood school close," says Mary Strom, president of Morningside's Parent Teacher Association.
But underneath that sadness is an excitement that stretches across the Southeast neighborhood. "Everyone's really excited about getting a new school," Strom says. "They're very proud of that."
Morningside is the sixth Roanoke elementary school to undergo renovations extensive enough to warrant being closed for a year. Last year, Virginia Heights Elementary School closed; next year, the last school, Wasena Elementary, will have its turn. In all, seven elementary schools will have undergone similar construction by August 1995 - a project worth $16.4 million.
Debbie Hayter is a fourth-grade teacher at Morningside who will follow the third-, fourth- and fifth-graders to the Morningside Annex at Madison - where Virginia Heights pupils were schooled last year.
"It'll be different. I think it'll be a nice year, but it'll be different," Hayter said. She's taught Morningside children for seven years, and requested an assignment to the annex.
"I just wanted to stay with the same kids, because I knew their parents, and I know the community."
While she lives in Bedford County, Hayter's ties to the neighborhood don't end with the afternoon school bell. The baby sitter for her two young children lives within walking distance of Morningside, so Hayter has seen many of the Morningside kids playing in their yards all summer.
While the renovations to Morningside were "long overdue," Hayter says, there was a certain sadness in her classroom when school ended last spring.
"The fourth-graders were especially sad because they were never going to get to go back there" - not to the air-conditioned rooms on the hot top floor, not to the multipurpose room that will replace the cafeteria for gym classes, not to the school within walking distance of most homes, instead of a bus ride away.
"I know it was old, and I know it had its problems, but I know everybody there made it as pleasant as possible," Hayter said of Morningside - her favorite of the schools where she has taught.
"It'll be a new Morningside. It'll probably be a lot better, but it'll never be like I knew it again. I just hope it will always have the closeness . . . It was like going home, there."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***