JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As families send their kids off for the new school year, students at one Jacksonville school will be heading to a new one.
Northwestern Legends Elementary is a name you may not be familiar with. It used to be called Northwestern Middle School, but this year kids from St. Clair Evans Academy will also be going there as part of the district's consolidation plans. The building also got updates.
Friends of the school are replacing pandemic worries with excitement over this, which they call a major event for the community.
"This is Principal Polydore and we are ready!" the principal said excitedly in a video posted on the school's Facebook page. "Northwestern Legends Elementary, where we are building legends of the future!"
Her video is a rallying cry to energize parents about a school year that will look different. It will look different because of the pandemic but also because this part of Northwest Jacksonville just got some shiny new upgrades. In Polydore's video she shows off new desks and says there are three new playgrounds.
"What makes this year so special, we have a brand new school," said Polydore in a Zoom call posted on Facebook. "If you come and see it you're gonna be like 'oh my goodness!' And I thought to myself, 'how exciting for students to walk into a brand new school.'"
To get the excitement going, the group Friends of Northwest Jacksonville Schools took to Facebook Live with a Zoom call. That's how First Coast News caught up with Tameka Gaines Holly from the group.
"It helps with learning," Gaines Holly said. "When you feel a sense of pride about your surroundings, your physical environment, it puts a lot of excitement and joy into the learning experience."
She says this is just the beginning for all Duval County Schools to get an upgrade and makes a pitch for the half-cent sales tax.
"To be able to spark this right now to show what can happen is important," Gaines Holly said. "I think a positive step forward and a huge step forward for that will be to have the funding necessary to get all of our buildings up to a safety-upgraded version where kids can attend school, be proud of the school."
This is part of a master facility plan for the district to get rid of $1 billion in maintenance issues expected over the next five years.
Read more about the Duval County school district's consolidations here.