New Highland Elementary opens its doors

CLOVIS - A well-built school can last a lifetime, but after nearly 70 years of service, no amount of renovations can keep an old building up to modern standards.

While the staff and students of Highland Elementary School bid farewell to their original building in June of 2017, they have a whole new one to explore in the upcoming school year.

Just in time for classes to start this week, the newly constructed Highland opened its doors on Thursday for staff, students, parents and members of the community to get a look.

Some of the amenities include a playground with bouncy rubber padding, skylights to produce natural lighting in the halls during the day and even a STEM lab where kids can use a variety of tools for creative projects.

"This has been quite the journey for us, but the journey's over now and I think this is when the adventure begins," said Principal Brenda Benfield.

The new building replaced one first built in 1951 that had received six additions as of 1983. The first step of the major renovation was decided in December of 2016 when an assessment confirmed it would be a better investment to build a new building than try and update the old one.

"Built in 1951, the old building didn't have a lot of the technology we have in this one or ADA components," Deputy Director of Operations John King said. "There were a lot of code issues the old building wasn't in compliance with. The new building brings the new technology and brings everything up to current standards, both state standards and code."

King estimates the cost for the new school was around $12 million. It's similar in size to the old building, but has a more efficient layout per square foot, officials said.

Benfield said the school has 270 children enrolled, and the building has a max capacity of 332 students.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Clovis Superintendent Renee Russ recounted her own first day of school at the old Highland.

"My mom had walked me to the school and for whatever reason thought I'd be good to go," Russ said. "But somewhere on that walk I ended up taking a detour and by the time I got there class was in session. A friendly custodian found me wandering in the halls and asked 'Honey, can I help you? What grade are you in?' I was 6 and so I thought I was in sixth grade, but he said he didn't think I looked like a sixth-grader."

While the old building was demolished and the new building was under construction throughout last year, students and staff held class at the former Parkview school building, which was vacant after a new Parkview school had been built.

Carla Hall, who lives next door to Highland, was at the opening with her daughter Elizabeth Hall, who will soon start first grade, and her son Andrew Hall, who is now in high school.

"We're excited. Since we live a street over we've been able to watch when they tore it down and when they rebuilt it," Hall said. "It was neat to see them finally turn the lights on at night."

The new school year for Highland Elementary begins at 8 a.m. Monday.