FARMINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS : Folsom nears completion
Posted on Monday, July 14, 2008
FARMINGTON - "Sparkly and brand-new"is how 8-year-old third-grader Cassie Webb described the new Bob Folsom Elementary School.
Webb will be one of 300 students to cross the threshold of the newest school of Farmington when classes start Aug. 18. The school's capacity is 450.
"I think it will be a great experience," said Webb, who, with her family, was among about 200 people at the dedication and open house Sunday.
"It's very great, and it looks nice, and when I go here, I'm going to be very excited," said 6-year-old Luke, Cassie's younger brother, who will be a first-grader at Folsom.
Second-grader Brandon Reese, 7, agreed.
"I'm so excited," he said.
The new school is a product of the good leadership and vision of the Farmington Board of Education, Superintendent Ron Wright said.
"We want it to be the best in the state," he said.
For Wright, that means continuing to improve academic test scores while providing a safe and comfortable learning environment for students.
"We're not there, but we're getting there," he said.
The Folsom Elementary School is part of the Farmington School District's concept for neighborhood schools.
The district has been growing at the rate of about 100 students per year, though it leveled off last year, Wright said.
When he started in the district seven years ago, Farmington had about 1, 650 students. The district now has more than 2, 100.
Folsom, with its angled front entry, is like the district's next newest school, Jerry "Pop"Williams Elementary, which opened in 2005. Because of new state regulations, the rooms at Folsom are larger.
"I like the humongous carpets," said Joshua Jowers, 6, who will join two brothers in the first classes at Folsom.
Besides the "humongous carpets," all of the 19 classrooms have whiteboards, fabric-covered bulletin boards, a sink, cupboards and storage cabinets.
The desks aren't in yet, but the teachers' names are on the walls next to classroom doors.
"We're near ready to move in," said Stephanie Pinkerton, Folsom principal, who, like the students, described the new opportunities the school presents as exciting for her and the staff.
The 52, 719-square-foot school includes a special education classroom, nurse's station, computer lab, art room, music room, media center, gym, counseling office, teacher work room, speech room, English-as-asecond-language room, gifted and talented room, and a common area with stage. Teachers from Ledbetter and Williams elementary schools will teach at the new school. Students in kindergarten through third grade will attend both Folsom and Williams schools next year. All Farmington fourth-graders will attend Ledbetter in the 2008-09 school year. Fifth grade will be at the middle school for one more year, then will be moved to Ledbetter.
Folsom Naming the school for retired fifth-grade teacher Bob Folsom was an almost unanimous choice of district faculty and staff, Pinkerton said. Folsom, who taught in Farmington from 1984 to 2004, greeted fellow teachers and former students at the event Sunday. "Every time I've asked someone about Bob Folsom, I'd get the same story over and over," Pinkerton said. "They'd say, ' You won't meet a nicer gentleman. ' He was a fabulous teacher. Parents loved him; students loved him."
Folsom, who had a background in secondary education, didn't expect to teach fifth grade, teacher Lori Blew recalled. She told how, before his first day of class, Folsom asked why the student desks were so small in his classroom and what he was supposed to do with the strings hanging from the ceiling.
"Miss (Kathy ) Simmons and I quickly told him those were for decorations to fix your room up or to display student artwork," Blew said. "He looked at us like, ' Yeah. Right. '"
Despite that first surprise, he liked fifth grade so much he went back to get his middle school certification and never left fifth grade, she said.
Blew described her friend as a "true gentleman"caught in a woman's world. Folsom joined his co-workers in potlucks, gift exchanges, and baby and wedding showers.
Blew said Folsom was named Northwest Arkansas Teacher of the Year twice by local television stations. In both cases, he was nominated by his students.
"He made every child feel like they had something to contribute," Blew said.
Former student John Walker Williams, now a ninth-grader at Farmington High School, described Folsom as an exciting teacher.
"Not only did he love teaching students, but he loved his students," Williams said.
Another teacher friend, Carolyn Odom, said Folsom taught lessons beyond the classroom. "He has consistently modeled integrity and high moral character," she said. "He's always been an encourager and an awesome listener."
"He's the kind of teacher we want to be like," Wright said.
Folsom, who seemed shocked by the depth and number of accolades, said of his own teaching career," I just fell in love with Farmington, and I just fell in love with the kids. They're just so genuine."
He said he hoped his students would learn to value themselves as human beings.
"I just tried to make them feel good about themselves, make them feel they could do anything they put their minds to," Folsom said.
McKenzi Bogan, 6, another first-grader-to-be at Folsom, liked what she saw at her new school Sunday.
"There's going to be lots of new people to meet, and I like schools," she said. "I get to learn things."
Her teachers will be ready and waiting to help her do that at the new Bob Folsom Elementary.
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