Central offices finally moved
Published 12:03 am Saturday, August 8, 2015
The Andalusia City Schools’ superintendent’s central office has finished moving into the Woodson Learning Center.
Superintendent Ted Watson said it’s taken about a year to get things moved into the new office space.
“The plan from the beginning when we determined to build a sixth grade wing (at the elementary school) and a seventh grade and eighth grade wing (at the high school), was to not abandon the old middle school site and make this facility useful,” Watson said. “The bones of the building were good, but it didn’t lend itself well for continued use for hundreds of kids.”
In addition to the superintendent’s office, there will be an alternative learning program at the school, along with the A.P.P.L.E. program that was established last January.
With the move, Watson said his office found itself a lot more room.
“It’s well needed,” he said. “We’ve consolidated files for the first time and are able to get our hands on them, which gives our schools and ourselves more room.”
The superintendent’s office takes up the seventh grade wing, the old library and the old office at the middle school, Watson said.
The A.P.P.L.E. program uses the old eighth grade wing and gym. At present, the sixth grade wing is mostly vacant.
“We have plans to put a Woodson High School heritage room here,” Watson said.
The heritage room will give people who went to Woodson a chance to reflect on the good memories they had while attending the school, Watson said.
“Woodson High has so many memories here in Andalusia,” he said. “We wanted to honor that.”
Because the old middle school is now the superintendent’s office, the building’s name will be changed to the Oscar Zeneah Administrative Office at the Woodson High Learning Center. The old central office will house most of the business end of the board of education, Watson said.
The move is also a homecoming for Watson, who served as principal at AMS for five years before becoming superintendent.
“I was thinking (Thursday) when I was getting in my truck that I can’t seem to shake this place,” Watson quipped. “I first came here in 1990 and taught five years, and the went to the high school to be the assistant principal. Eventually, I made my way back here as principal. After five years, I’ve found myself as the superintendent in the same place.”