No problems have been reported so far from the shift of students caused by the closure of W.C. Williams Elementary School, Greenwood School Superintendent Montrell Greene said Tuesday.
The school board voted in May to close W.C. Williams in a cost-cutting move. Students who would have gone there this year now attend Bankston Elementary or Threadgill Elementary.
Greene praised the administrators and others who spent long hours making sure the move would go smoothly. In less than a month, “to move that amount of equipment, personnel, that takes a great undertaking,” he said.
He said some computers were still being moved from Williams to Bankston and Threadgill.
Because of the increased enrollment at Threadgill, both sides of the school cafeteria are being used to accommodate the students eating lunch. Previously, only one side was needed.
The Threadgill cafeteria has been used in the past for programs for the elderly conducted by the North Central Planning and Development District. Greene suggested to the board that the cafeteria at W.C. Williams be made available for these activities, with the understanding that North Central would handle any resulting expenses. The board voted unanimously to do so.
Also Tuesday, Greene said 100-plus-degree temperatures have proved a challenge for district employees and the air-conditioning units, but Deputy Superintendent Chester Leigh and the maintenance department have been working hard to “make sure that we have met the challenges as they arise.”
Leigh reported that even some working air units have had problems after their rooms filled with people. However, he said, “we are addressing all those, and I think by tomorrow we should be pretty much caught up.”
Greene said some local vendors were brought in to help lighten the load for maintenance employees, who were already stretched thin making sure chairs, desks and other items were in the proper places and doing other things.
“It may cost the district a little more, but in this kind of weather, it’s just not an option not to have units up and running,” he said.
Also Tuesday:
• Greene reported that 2,341 students were enrolled on the first day of school, Aug. 5, and that number had grown to 2,705 as of Tuesday. The latter number includes 408 at Bankston Elementary, 525 at Davis Elementary, 789 at Threadgill Elementary, 358 at Greenwood Middle and 625 at Greenwood High.
• Greene said 200 people took home more than 500 books in a giveaway that was conducted with the help of an $865,000 literacy grant.
• Contact David Monroe at 581-7236 or dmonroe@gwcommonwealth.com.
