Groundbreaking | Dedication
The idea
for a new elementary school for the Galena Park ISD began taking shape back in 1995.
District administrators realized the growth that was taking place on the north side of the
district and knew that a new elementary school would be necessary to prevent overcrowding
on the other campuses. During 1995,
Deputy Superintendent Rick Kirk and Assistant Superintendent Margaret Goolsbee put
together a committee that would meet to design this new elementary campus. The design the committee developed was a campus
built in pods with large multipurpose areas in each pod and large carpeted room that would
serve as an indoor PE area and meeting room. This design was very different from any
other elementary campus in Galena Park. The
school was originally scheduled to open in the fall of 1997. However, the campus did not open until 1998.
During
the fall of 1995, a posting went out to name the principal of this new campus.
Applicants were interviewed in February and Frances Ramsey was named as the principal of
this new school at the Board of Trustees meeting in March, 1996.
The first thing that needed to be completed
to give the school some identity was the name. A
suggestion was given to the Board of Trustees that the campus be named after a
gentleman who had served on the Galena Park Board of Trustees for 29 years, Mr.
James B. Havard. This suggestion was unanimously accepted by the Board. Dr.
Neeley, Peggy McWhorter and Miss Ramsey made a surprise visit to Mr. Havard's place of
business to give him and his family and friends the good news.
Due to the delay in the opening of the
school, vigorous planning did not begin until the fall of 1997. A new principal was named for Woodland Acres
Elementary so that Miss Ramsey would be able to concentrate solely on the new campus.
Groundbreaking for James B. Havard
Elementary took place in September of 1997. Following
the groundbreaking was a year full of planning, hiring, ordering and organizing.
Kathy Bundy was hired as Principal's Secretary and David Smolka was named Assistant
Principal in the spring of 1998. It was a very exciting year as we began to build
our staff, order materials, organize records of children transferring from the other
campuses and much cooperation from all the elementary campuses.
Another committee was chosen from among the
new staff members in order to select school colors and adopt a school mascot. This
committee chose to carry out a Texas theme throughout the school. Pods were named for the regions of Texas and
classrooms were named for cities in those regions. The committee wanted the school
to be a teaching tool as well as a place for learning. Colors for each pod were selected
as well as icons representing that region of Texas. The fourth and 5th grade
Encounters classes designed and painted individual tiles to be used at the entrance to
each pod. The teachers felt this would give students more ownership in the school.
The committee selected orange and denim blue as the school colors and the Cowboy
was chosen as the school mascot.
Another very important part of any campus is
parent involvement. It was important that a new P.T.A. be created with parents
coming to Havard form three different Galena Park campuses as well as many private
schools. The organizational meeting was held in April of 1998, officers were
selected with Pam Phipps as the new president and Havard Elementary P.T.A. was on its way.
The group of parents selected to serve as officers for the first year represented
all sending campuses and looked like a team that had always been together. It is
still a strong organization today.
As soon as school ended for the 97-98 school
year, teachers were at the front door of Havard anxious to get in their new classrooms and
get them set up for the next year. Unfortunately this was delayed until July, but
the staff worked day and night to have their rooms ready. Dr. Neeley allowed us to
come in five days earlier for staff development and to allow us time to build a team since
we were coming from many different places.
The predicted enrollment for the first day
of school was between 700-750 students. However,
with the many new homes being built in this area, our doors opened and 855 students
entered them. We spent our first semester trying to hire teachers to accommodate this many
students and by January this task was
completed.
Dedication of the facility was
held on September 22, 1998, officially naming it James B. Havard Elementary. The
ceremony was attended by friends and relatives of Mr. Havard. Dr. Gerald Cobb and Mr. Johnnie Rountree who had
worked with Mr. Havard during his time on the school board were featured speakers.
Miss Ramsey was offered a different job in
GPISD and transferred in January of 1999. Karen Sutera, former principal at
Cloverleaf Elementary and Cimarron Elementary, was named as the new principal and has
served in this capacity with Mr. Smolka as her assistant since that time. Enrollment
in the school has continued to climb and almost all of the large multipurpose areas have
been enclosed to make classrooms to accommodate the growing enrollment. |
