About 300 students, parents, teachers and community members gathered May 7 for a late afternoon groundbreaking ceremony at Valley Oaks Elementary School, 8390 Westview.
Valley Oaks Elementary is the 12th elementary campus in Spring Branch ISD to be rebuilt under the 2007 Bond program. In all, 13 elementaries across the district are being totally rebuilt through the $597 million bond plan. So far, 10 new campuses have been completely rebuilt and opened across Spring Branch.
In just a few weeks, the aging, 57-year-old Valley Oaks building and physical plant will be demolished. Students, teachers and other staff will move for the school year ahead and fall semester of school year 2013 - 2014 to the district’s East Transition Campus, located at 8655 Emnora. The new, two-story campus could be ready by January 2015.
The May 7 groundbreaking ceremony began with remarks and introductions by the Superintendent of Schools, Duncan F. Klussmann, Ed.D. “Our buildings in Spring Spranch ISD are catching up to the quality of instruction in our schools,” he said.
Board of Trustees members on hand for the groundbreaking included officers Pam Goodson, Mike Falick, and Wayne Schaper, Sr. They were joined by Trustees Katherine L. Dawson, Chris Gonzalez, Bob Stevenson and Chris Vierra. Former Trustee Theresa Kosmoski attended, too.
Other special guests included Deanna Harrington, District 133 director for State Rep. Jim Murphy; Spring Valley Mayor Tom Ramsey; Houston City Council Member Helena Brown; and Hilshire Village Mayor Shannon Whiting. Former Valley Oaks Principal Vicky Hardway also attended the public event.
The building project’s architectural firm is PBK Architects. Construction will be conducted by Durotech, Inc. Terry Bell and Kris Drosche with SBISD’s Planning & Construction Department will provide project management.
At the groundbreaking, Cub Scout Pack 522 led the Pledge of Allegiance. Deanna Harrington with State Rep. Murphy’s Office presented a flag flown over the Texas Capitol and a certificate to school leaders. SBISD Board of Trustees President Pam Goodson delivered Board greetings to the large audience that gathered under the covered outdoor playground on a bright and warm spring afternoon.
“Valley Oaks Elementary School is not just about bricks and mortar. It’s about the students and parents and teachers who have stood the test of time… Valley Oaks is a campus that inspires and motivates,” she said.
In 18 months, the school will come together again to celebrate a new school. Plans call for a two-story building, which will help free up space on the wooded site. The new campus will include high ceilings and generous use of natural light, and provide a secure space of all children.
Patti Portice, a Valley Oaks Elementary graduate, parent and teacher, spoke about what the campus means to her and others. Parents today seek a quality school and education for their children – just like previous generations.
“Having children changes how we look at the community in which we live. As parents, we are consumed with wanting the best for our kids and giving them a firm educational foundation. My parents did the same thing back in 1953,” she said.
“My parents moved here believing that their children would get a quality education, and that Spring Branch would be the best place in the Houston area for our family.” Building a new school is similar to getting new china at home when the old plates and dishes wear out, she said.
“Like that set of dishes, our building has done her job well. We aren’t throwing her away. We’re saving what we can to use another way or donate to build something else, and then we’re giving her new life. A new building that will build new memories for future generations of eagles, here in our little nest called Valley Oaks,” Portice said.
Valley Oaks Principal Gary Henry guided the audience through a set of fun history facts as he sketched out the school’s past 57 years. Elvis danced on the Ed Sullivan Show the year that Valley Oaks opened. Families cheered along with others when the Houston Rockets won back to back NBA championships. Through modern history, Valley Oaks has provided a solid, reliable foundation for thousands of graduates.
“Most importantly, Valley Oaks was here, and continues to be here to see thousands of students successfully complete elementary school and eventually graduate high school, college and become productive members of our society,” Principal Henry said.
“You see, for the past 57 years, Valley Oaks has been a place where memories and friendships run deep. As we build the new Valley Oaks, we must remember, and take with us, the incredible spirit and camaraderie that lie within the walls of Valley Oaks. As I always mention, it is not the bricks and mortar that make Valley Oaks a special place, it is the people that make Valley Oaks so special,” he added. The 100-voice Valley Oaks Fifth-Grade Choir performed “So Long, Farewell” and the school song, “My Valley Oaks Friend.”
Joining the students were former choir members Molly Richter and Tucker May, both sophomores at Stratford High. Solo performances with the choir were conducted by first-grader Samantha Little, fourth-grader Scout Belt and fifth-grader Joseph Graham. A symbolic groundbreaking was also held with SBISD Trustees and Valley Oaks Elementary students and staff. To end the celebration, student, parents and others enjoyed two special design cakes.
Valley Oaks Principal Gary Henry:
I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time. My name is Gary Henry and I’m the Principal of Valley Oaks Elementary. For fifty-seven years, the building you see to my left has created some great memories and has helped to inspire dreams in the minds of thousands of students.
Let’s recall some significant historical events that took place during the time our campus was first built.
- Valley Oaks was here when Elvis Presley first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1956.
- Valley Oaks was here when President John F. Kennedy gave his famous speech on the campus of Rice University about going to the moon in 1961.
- Valley Oaks was here when disco was popular and when George Lucas created the first Star Wars movie.
- Valley Oaks was here when the Houston Rockets won back to back NBA World Championships.
You see, for the past 57 years, Valley Oaks has been a place where memories and friendships run deep. As we build the new Valley Oaks, we must remember, and take with us, the incredible spirit and camaraderie that lie within the walls of Valley Oaks. As I always mention, it is not the bricks and mortar that make Valley Oaks a special place, it is the people that make Valley Oaks so special.
I want to thank our Facilities Task Force, our School Board, our Superintendent, our architects, our students, and our staff, for helping to design a school that will not only create 57 more incredible years of memories, but will also honor those individuals who have helped make Valley Oaks what it is today. Thank you for attending our special Groundbreaking Ceremony this afternoon as Valley Oaks continues upon greatness.
Patti Portice, Valley Oaks Elementary graduate, parent and teacher:
“Valley Oaks will always be the place that I remember.” Every year when the fifth-graders sing that sweet song, it makes me cry… Fifty-seven years last fall, I entered the door of Room 6 as a kindergartner. I wish I could tell you that I remembered that day, but I can’t. I was probably crying for my mommy!
I have so many memories of this school as a child. I wasn’t the perfect child by any means. I was the child who received “N’s” on her report card for talking constantly – but I had fun here, I learned here, and I made lifelong friends here.
When I came to teach here at Valley Oaks, Vicky Hardway and Tom Byrd walked me to my new classroom – Room 2, my first-grade classroom. Even now, I’m stuck with that memory, “Oh my gosh – I’m teaching first grade in my old first-grade classroom!” As they opened the door, first I was amazed by how small it was, and then I was carried back to being 6-years-old in that room!
The same smells were there, and it looked the same to me as it did as a child. Having children changes how we look at the community in which we live. As parents, we are consumed with wanting the best for our kids and giving them a firm educational foundation.
My parents did the same thing back in 1953. They’d heard that Spring Branch was the place to build homes and raise kids. Germans were the earliest immigrants in Spring Branch. The Hillendahl Family owned all the land you stand on, all the way to Long Point and west to Wirt Road, and further north.
When our little house was built, Valley Oaks Elementary School was in the beginning stages – just a dream on paper. My parents moved here believing that their children would get a quality education, and that Spring Branch would be the best place in the Houston are for our family.
I remember my dad and I walking through the woods by the bayou – which was wild country back then, and walking down the sidewalks of Valley Oaks as it was nearing completion. It had bright colored glass windows across the classrooms, and even now, I get asked on Facebook, “Does Valley Oaks still have those colored windows?” I’ve been asked how Valley Oaks has changed since I was here as a student.
Of course, the building has changed to accommodate the needs of the neighborhood over the years. We’ve added buildings and extended classrooms. But we were teachers, talking about how teaching has changed… I think that the biggest change has been in empowering each student to be more responsible for their own learning.
I can tell you, my daddy got really good at doing science projects each year; but today, the students are more confident in taking on that responsibility. We were given facts to spit back out on tests; memorization and workbooks were the teaching tools my teachers relied on. We sat in rows and worked independently.
And we were very, very quiet…Today, students use the Internet to access information, work on projects in groups, teaching them how to work cooperatively together, preparing them for a future in which they will need to work with many different personalities and ideas.
Today, students must tell us how they arrived at an answer and demonstrate accountability for their answers! We encourage them to be thinkers, to take risks, and to not be afraid of giving the wrong answer – to push their learning to the limit. We do not have quiet classrooms… we are busy learners, talking about our learning! I love that about education today, and I know we do a great job of that here at Valley Oaks.
As I was packing up some old art items from when Liz Matthews was here, I came across some broken pieces of china, and as soon as I saw them, this came to my mind (Men, whenever I say the word “china” or “dishes,” you insert the word “car” – and you’ll know what I’m talking about.)
When you have a set of dishes that you’ve used forever, eventually they begin to wear out and break. You look at them and remember meals, family celebrations; wonderful times you’ve shared with family and friends. You know that you have to get rid of them. They no longer fill the purpose for which they were intended, but it really hurts to think about throwing them out.
So many good memories… So you save a piece or two, thinking you might mosaic a flower pot or make a garden stone with them, box them up and donate them to a charity because you know that someone may be able to use the leftover pieces.
Then, you get excited! You are going to buy something new, never been used, all the pieces are there… New Stuff! I think that all of us can identify with that anticipation! You shop. You look. You compare – and then you get new china that meets the needs of your family for another season of time, and make new memories with them. In a way, that’s what we are doing today.
Valley Oaks has served our community for 57 years, giving thousands and thousands of children a love of learning and the joy of friendships that continue forever. She’s lived through happy times and some sad times, too. She’s watched children play hopscotch and jacks on her sidewalks, play on the seesaws and merry-go-round back in the “old days,” and dig up cans of money that the Hillendahl Family buried on her grounds.
From squirrels in the library, possums on the playground, ducklings hatched in the classroom, and a famous snake named Rocky kept in the showcase by the office, she’s allowed students to learn and enjoy wildlife in ways that children don’t get to see in a city school.
Chili suppers evolved into Family Supper, the Western Jamboree became Jamboree, and the Paper Drive became VOE Goes Green. Names of events have changed somewhat, but the purposes haven’t. Valley Oaks is a place for families and in is a sense for family.
The building is just that – a building. What goes on inside is what brings it to life. Our strength is in encouraging not only learning, but a sense of belonging to a community of learners. Like that set of dishes, our building has done her job well.
We aren’t throwing her away. We’re saving what we can to use another way or donate to build something else, and then we’re giving her new life. A new building that will build new memories for future generations of eagles, here in our little nest called Valley Oaks. You, me, each of us in this community. We make Valley Oaks the amazing place that it is, and that’s why “Memories from here… will never end.” Thank you all for coming today.
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