Nick McWilliams reporting – Garaway students head back to their classrooms on Wednesday for a new year.
The district installed a new roof on their high school gymnasium lobby area, and purchased an air conditioning unit for the gym itself, while also mounting a new video scoreboard for indoor sports. A new track surface is also now available at the high school football field.
One of the biggest projects the district is working on involves safety upgrades, which Superintendent Dr. Jim Millet says will provide a secure learning environment for all.
“A safety vestibule, in essence, is a secure area that guests during the school day will come into and be screened. They can’t access the rest of the building until they’re cleared through that screening process, and then they can enter the building. It’s another layer of security, and we’re really excited to be adding that.”
With new hires, the district welcomed in a new intervention specialist for the high school, while adding a new kindergarten teacher to assist with class sizes. Additionally, Garaway has hired a school psychologist and will bring in an intern under that new hire to assist in daily tasks.
Millet says that starting every new year, the district uses a new theme to focus on, using inspiration for 2022 and 2023 from a world-famous sculpture.
“This year, our theme for Garaway is ‘Masterpiece.’ And that is built on a quote from Michelangelo which says, ‘Every block of stone has a statue inside of it. And it is a task of the sculptor to discovery it.’ That is going to serve as a reminder for us at Garaway of our opportunity to bring out the greatness in every student.”
Garaway spent time this summer renovating restrooms throughout the district and repaving parking lots.
For Dundee, fully restored floors were completed during the break, which will be a goal for all elementary schools in the coming years.
Ragersville will also feature a new playground this year.
For more district information, visit www.garaway.org.
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