Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at Davidsonville

The new kindergarten wing at Davidsonville Elementary School (DES) was officially christened on Monday, with a ribbon cutting ceremony that brought out the whole school: students, faculty and staff.

Kindergarten students watched as Principal Jean Marie Hofstetter, Assistant Principal Patricia Keffer and kindergarten teachers Kim Akers, Leigh Jones, Helen Kleintank and Mary Ann Perret cut the bright pink ribbon with a pair of over-sized scissors.

As the ribbon fell to the ground, the children roared and quickly headed in to check out the new space.

The new kindergarten wing includes six new classrooms. In each room, there’s a teacher’s workstation, restroom, utility sink, storage space and state-of-the-art technology including installed SMARTboards and overhead projectors.

Kindergarten teacher Leigh Jones has been at Davidsonville for 20 years. She originally worked in the old building, which was torn down after a new building was erected 10 years ago. She is excited to move in to the new kindergarten wing.

“The space is quite extraordinary,” said Jones. “The rooms are spacious and include the latest technology. We are very lucky.”

The completion of the new wing comes just in time as Davidsonville will welcome some 70 new students this August. Students from Central Elementary in Edgewater were remapped to the school beginning in August 2012. The students are being moved due to overcrowding.

Bright blue, yellow and green tiles decorate the hallways in the new wing, and the lockers set along the walls are wider than those currently installed in other parts of the school.

“This new wing is every teacher’s dream,” Hofstetter said.

All 600 DES students got a chance to check out the new classrooms. Overall, the students said they were most envious of new lockers.

For some of the kindergartners, the unveiling was almost too much.

“I was so excited about seeing my new classroom,” said Ashley Londot. “I wanted to cry.”

Kindergarten students are off on Wednesday to give teachers time to move in to the new classrooms. Parents can check out the kindergarten wing Thursday and Friday during parent-teacher conferences. Classes resume for DES kindergarten  students on Tuesday, May 29.