The Abilene (Texas) district has opened a new $20 million campus for Austin Elementary School.
The Abilene Reporter News reports that the new school is laid out in pods, with kindergarten through second-grade on the first floor and third- through fifth-grade on the second floor.
Next to the library is a maker space, equipped with a 3D printer, Legos and engineering gadgets perfect for young students.
"It doesn't look like the Austin Elementary I went to," says Superintendent David Young.
Glass features prominently around the pods — a shared common room for each grade level with smaller classrooms surrounding them. The desgn of the former school included outdoor hallways that were an education choice for the late 1950s.
"I love that you're not going to see walls when you come here, you're going to see children," Camp says.
Tours this past weekend likely were the only chance outsiders will have to see the new campus for a while, especially with students in the building. The Covid-19 pandemic is limiting who can visit school facilities.
Because of health and safety, no one is allowed into the school who isn't required to be there.
