Hayes Elementary ready for opening

     By Judy DeLoretta
     View staff writer
      There's a new principal in town. And a new school, as well.
      Keith and Karen Hayes Elementary School opened early and is ready for fall semester.
      The builder, Korte Bellew Associates, dedicated the school June 28 with a ceremony that included the planting of a tree and a boulder inscribed with a special message to the community.
      The school, located at 9620 W. Twain Ave., is projected to teach about 685 students. About 600 elementary students from Roger Bryan Elementary and Marion Earl Elementary Schools have been rezoned to attend Hayes. The remainder is made up of new residents, primarily from several Rhodes Homes developments, as well as nearby apartment complexes.
      Hayes, with classrooms for grades kindergarten through fifth, has been designed to model the most recent prototype schools.
      Principal Joan Gray said it's unique for a school to celebrate its opening and to be turned over to the district early in the summer. Also unique is the way parents and teachers have already been collaborating on the kind of school they want to create.
      "We're moving in July 13, and school will begin Aug. 23," Gray said.
      Last-minute changes or fixes will be complete within the next few weeks, indicating the school will be ready for students to walk through its doors on Aug. 23. An open house is slated for Aug. 20 for parents and children to become familiar with the new school. Gray said the open house is set for noon so working parents can stop by on their lunch breaks.
      For Gray, a high grade goes to parents and new teachers who have been instrumental in putting together new ideas and programs for the new school.
      "We've tried to make the new school opening a little differently than other schools," Gray said. "All of the Hayes teachers have been connected online with e-mail throughout the entire hiring and construction process."
      The collaboration began with e-mail notes and online dialogue during which teachers made suggestions. Two of the main discussions addressed the assurance that Hayes' focus was based on technology, as well as how to incorporate a sense of community for students and parents.
      With technology the main thrust of the school's namesakes, Gray said it's ironic that technology was used to come up with suggestions and decisions before the school's completion. Rather than a select group of teachers doing all of the planning, the entire staff incorporated parental involvement in the decision-making process.
      School staff and parents spent time brainstorming to contribute ideas about what kind of discipline would be used, as well as the kind of family activities that will be planned throughout the school year.
      "It has been a lot more work doing it this way but I think the school will turn out better because of it," Gray said.
      Gray and her staff of teachers are crossing their fingers that the state will come through with computers in every classroom.
      "We already decided to focus on technology. If the computers are not approved, we're already planning fund-raisers to get the money for them," Gray said. "Either way, we'll make sure we have enough computers."
      Once computers are installed, the entire school will have online access through Interact, a software program used by the Public Education Foundation office and by schools throughout Clark County. Access allows teachers to communicate to each other, and plans are under way to add connections to parents' home computers.