EHS students will return to normal schedule

By Archive

Published: June 18, 2008

ENTERPRISE — The historic Carroll Street School just west of downtown Enterprise will soon begin a new chapter as a temporary Enterprise High School building, which school system officials say is key to putting students back on a normal school-day schedule.

Days after the March 1, 2007, tornado destroyed Enterprise High and Hillcrest Elementary schools, elementary students were combined with students at Holly Hill Elementary, and the high school students were moved to portable classrooms on the Enterprise-Ozark Community College campus.

The change was particularly challenging for the high school because certain classes, such as weight training and chemistry, could not take place in portable classrooms, but those same classrooms at the college were occupied in the mornings by college students. This predicament forced the school to shift its schedule later in the day, which put some high school students returning home well after 6 p.m. if they rode buses.

Earlier this year, school system officials publicized plans to shuttle students between the college campus and the Carroll Street School building, which could be renovated to accommodate those special classrooms, which could then be used in the morning hours as well.

Those plans have since been finalized, and school system maintenance crews have been busy since the beginning of summer renovating Carroll Street School.

“Our maintenance people have done a tremendous job,” said School Superintendent Jim Reese. “I just can’t thank them enough.”

Already, many of the windows, floors and walls have been refurbished, added and replaced, and some rooms already have classroom furniture in place.

“It is really incredible,” Reese said, explaining that the work is primarily being done by school system workers without having to use outside contractors. And while the school system is still working on plans to build a new high school, he said saving money when possible is a bonus.

The school system will also save money on transportation expenses.

While buses will have to make extra journeys to shuttle students between locations during the day, officials say it will still cost less than running dedicated bus routes in the late afternoon just to take high school students home.

In addition to using the Carroll Street School facility, high school students will continue to attend Career Tech classes at the school system’s Service Center on Highway 84 East. Reese said plans are underway to also shuttle chorus students to the Board of Education facility, which currently holds school board meetings in the building that was originally the high school chorus room, and one of only two buildings on the campus that survived the tornado.

Reese said parents, students and teachers alike are happy about the new schedule. He gives the bulk of the credit to high school Principal Rick Rainer, Vice Principal Steven Graves and Transportation Director Ron White.

“They’ve worked hours and hours trying to put all of this together,” Reese said.