Adams Elementary School opens its doors for the first time

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By MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star

The basketball hoops are on the way.

There’s grass growing in the yard.

The social studies materials have been unpacked, the glue bottles distributed, the desks arranged.

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Melody Buethe, a third grade teacher at the new Adams Elementary School, 7401 Jacobs Creek Drive, puts away school supplies Tuesday afternoon. (William Lauer)

And Adams Elementary, the first new Lincoln Public Schools building to open since North Star High School six years ago, is ready to welcome 470 students Wednesday morning.

“Teachers have worked day and night,” said Principal Cindy Schwaninger. “We knew it would be down to the wire and it was.”

But the 30 teachers hired to teach in the new $12 million building in south Lincoln knew that’s how it would be when they signed on, Schwaninger said.

So they were ready. Which isn’t to say Tuesday was a calm, sit-around-and-wait-for-the-kids-to-show-up sort of day.

Tuesday was a what-do-we-do-about-Wednesday-folders,  a where-are-the-white board-markers, an I-need-an-extra-table-in-here kind of day.

A week ago, teachers and administrators gathered outside the building — the first new school finished with funds from a $250-million bond issue — and walked in together for the first time.

That, said first-grade teacher Chris Barnett, was an event.

Teachers exclaimed. They applauded. They danced. They shot pictures.

And they imagined what their new rooms would look like full of children.

“The most exciting thing is the kids coming tomorrow,” said Barnett.

“It’s never been so fun opening a box,” said Kimi Standly, another first-grade teacher.

And there have been a lot of them.

The flurry of activity in the last week involved 15 custodians who helped move in and test equipment. Workers are still finishing up some rooms, installing some tiles and cabinets.  

None of that, Schwaninger said, will affect the students.

The school, which can hold nearly 800 students, will have slightly over half that this year, so some classrooms will be used for other purposes, including holding any remaining construction equipment.

The school will have five kindergarten classes this year, all of which are in their own area of the school, with a commons area.

The school is divided into two sections, with classrooms surrounding two courtyards.

The self-contained classrooms differ from the more open concept of the last new elementaries built in the mid 1990s. And security concerns prompted officials to design a double entryway so that after the start of the day, visitors have to go through the office before they can get into the school.

Although the school has been open just a week, the planning began months ago.

Schwaninger hired the bulk of her staff between January and March. Teachers met as a group and in teams over the next months, creating the rules and routines that are longstanding traditions in most schools.

There was all manner of things to decide, from where students will line up in the morning, to defining lunch procedures to determining the school’s mission and student expectations.

Staff had 10 extra days this summer to meet and plan. Schwaninger said that was vital.

“It was really a gift to have that time,” Schwaninger said, “not only for planning but getting to know each other.”

Staff also spent the last few months letting families get to know them at various events at Scott Middle School.

Lisa Warwick, whose daughter will be a first-grader at Adams, said those meetings were a good way to let kids get to know each other. School officials also did a good job communicating with parents, she said.  

Because she lives in the neighborhood, she’s watched the process from the ground up.

“I was just really impressed with the way it’s come together,” she said. “I was really amazed they could pull it all together.”

There’s more work to do, though. There are mascots to pick and school colors to choose.

Because the yellow brick building at the top of a hill just south of Pine Lake Road, is a clean slate.

And it’s up to those with Crayolas in their backpacks to color it, and make it their own.

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com