Park View Students, Staff Settling Into New Building

Students and faculty at Park View School are getting settled into the building after a month of classes in the new facility.

Principal Melody Presley said they picked up right where they left off in May and have not had any educational issues in the transition. Presley said things are going well but they are still working to optimize certain aspects of their day-to-day operations.

“In a new school building there are things that you are learning,” Presley said. “How traffic flows in and out of the building, you know, how we go through the cafeteria, things like that. So those have been things that we’ve been tweaking.”

Presley said they initially had issues getting the air conditioning and humidity where they wanted them but that has since been fixed. Presley said they also had a series of minor maintenance adjustments throughout the building to ensure everything is working properly.

“Like the way doors close or the way locks lock and unlock, things like that,” Presley said. “That you don’t realize until people start using them that maybe this door was rubbing or this lock doesn’t lock just right. Or for example, just the other day, the librarian was like, you see this light, our library has giant ceilings but the light cover wasn’t totally closed on the light. So little things like that have to be addressed once people are in there and looking around and utilizing the space.”

Presley said they will continue to get more efficient as people getting more experienced with parking, pickup and drop-off, and general navigation of the building.

“The only way we can go is up,” Presley said. “So that being said, we have had great support of our parents and teachers. Everybody has been very positive and patient as we learn and grow together.”

Presley said she is already trying to be forward-thinking as they fine-tune things in the school so it is ready for the eventual middle school addition.

“A lot of the decisions I’m making are to set precedent for when we have older students in the building as well,” Melody said. “So I’m kind of laying the groundwork for that because it’s expected that that side of the building should be here within the next five years or so.”

Presley said they have had an “absolutely amazing” first month and the best start to a school year she has seen at Park View.

“I’ve learned a lot over the past week about plumbing and electrical and different aspects of the way the building was designed,” Presley said. “I’ve had a lot of questions about well, why was it made this way?”