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Schools

A little tardy, but worth the wait

Trinity Oaks Elementary opens Tuesday to good reviews, despite construction delays.

By MICHELE MILLER
Published January 10, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Janel Schroeder-Norton] From left, Jeana Walker, 5, Amber Moore, 5, Derek Stager, 6, Michael Mortilla, 5, and Alexis Townsend, 6, show one another that they are listening to their teacher on the first day of school at Trinity Oaks Elementary. The children returned from winter break to a new school Tuesday after spending months in portables at nearby Trinity Elementary.

TRINITY - It was just like the first day of school all over again for 6-year-old Shane Livingston.

The night before, the first-grader was fretting at the dinner table.

"He was so nervous. He was so scared," said his mother, Tracey Livingston. "He was worried about finding his classroom and getting lost."

That's because since school began in August, Shane and 575 students slated to attend Trinity Oaks Elementary had been learning in portable classrooms at nearby Trinity Elementary on Duck Slough Boulevard.

But on Tuesday, after months of construction delays, Trinity Oaks finally opened. The school was built to ease crowding at Trinity and Seven Springs elementary schools. Wiregrass Ranch High School also opened Tuesday in Wesley Chapel.

Trinity Oaks hosted an orientation during winter break that was well attended, and for the most part, students and faculty settled in nicely Tuesday, principal Allison Hoskins said.

Hoskins started her school day greeting students and many of their parents, who were allowed to walk their children to their new classrooms this first week. The traffic light at Mitchell and Trinity Oaks boulevards was finally up and running. And students were dropped off by bus and car without the transportation confusion typical for the first day of school, Trinity Oaks officials said.

After the morning pledge, while some students took guided tours of their new school, Shane and his classmates were reintroducing themselves and counting by twos for their math lesson.

Across the hall, kindergarten and first-grade students in Michelle Hanson's class dusted off the winter break cobwebs and settled back into their morning singing routine with songs focusing on things such as the days of the week, shapes and counting.

And Shane, much to his mom's relief, exhibited a newfound confidence as he entered his new classroom without as much as a backward glance.

"Now's he's fine," Tracy Livingston said. "He wouldn't even let me kiss him goodbye."

[Last modified January 10, 2007, 07:27:20]