Sunset Hills Elementary was doing well academically, but it was showing signs of age. A brand new building renews dreams and stirs some nostalgia in its Tarpon Springs staff.
By JILLIAN BANDES
Published August 1, 2004
TARPON SPRINGS - When the new Sunset Hills Elementary School opens Tuesday, it will have one computer for about every five students, Internet access in every classroom and a 30-seat computer lab.
There will be over $1.3-million worth of new furnishings, a sparkling cafeteria that doubles as an auditorium and a new art laboratory.
Some things, however, will not be new at all.
"We have the same family-friendly atmosphere," said Dawn Gomez, a kindergarten teacher who has been at Sunset Hills for four years. "We have the same commitment to character."
The school has moved from its old buildings on Gulf Road to a new $14.1-million facility next to Tarpon Springs High School. With the move, the school's capacity grows from 482 to about 700 students. Despite the growth, the new school will not use any portable classrooms this year, principal Rory Morris-Richardson said. The old school had nine.
But Morris-Richardson's pride in her new location pales in comparison to her pride in her staff.
The teachers "are just very caring and dedicated to the children," she said. "They are so committed to education."
Sunset Hills, which has received an A or B from the state's school grading program for the past three years, touts its high levels of parental involvement and its 68 adopt-a-class sponsors and other partnerships. Its teachers rave not only about their students, but about each other.
"The kids and families are just terrific," said Melissa Hill, 40, who has spent 17 years in Pinellas County schools and now teaches third grade at Sunset Hills. "And the teachers really enjoy each other, too. It's a very positive environment."
Despite what Hill describes as "a small-town school atmosphere," the school has 24-hour security cameras and front gates that shut after the late bell. These measures provide peace of mind to Annette Alexiou-Parr, whose son Alexander will be entering the fifth grade.
"The building is going to be much safer," said Alexiou-Parr, who handles the school's data preparation. "Once the late bell rings, the gate goes down and everyone has to go through the front office."
Moving the facility from one location to the other was no small undertaking. Forty years of school materials had accumulated in the old facilities, and some of the teachers had been there nearly as long.
Pam Kontodiakos will be entering her 29th year of teaching at Sunset Hills Elementary. She said the move was bittersweet.
"All four of my kids went through kindergarten here," she said. "Moving out of the old building was a little sad."
Much of the move was done by the teachers themselves over the summer. Spouses, siblings and friends were enlisted in the effort. Knowing someone who owned a trailer or pickup truck was a plus.
Transporting the rest of the school was left up to just four grounds personnel.
"Three men and a lady have literally moved this school box by box, item by item, down the street since May," Morris-Richardson said.
As principal, Morris-Richardson was in charge of ordering new furnishings for the school, choosing everything from classroom carpeting to tables for the cafeteria to the paint on the walls.
"It was basically a second full-time job," she said of presiding over the old school while preparing the new one.
Teachers expect the new school buildings to be awe-striking to their young students.
"It's going to be like going to New York City for the first time," Hill said. "They are going to have bug eyes."
