Backpacks, bells, and brand-new schools: Gaston County students head back to class

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Around 30,000 students in Gaston County headed back to school on Wednesday, August 13, marking the start of a new academic year.

And for some, that means stepping into a brand-new school building for the very first time.

Queen City News was at Sherwood Elementary on Wednesday to catch all the back-to-school buzz just down the street from the brand-new Grier Middle School.

District officials gave QCN a sneak peek inside the two-story facility, which features over 40 classrooms, a media center and library, and entrances designed to ease traffic flow on campus.

Perhaps most importantly, the new Grier Middle School brings major upgrades in student safety. School officials said the former building, which dated all the way back to 1956, had outdoor classroom doors and required students to walk outside just to get to restrooms or other classes.

“The school that we had previously was actually built in 1956,” said Principal Jessica Mellon. “Learning looks very different in 1956, and so did children. So it was definitely time for an upgrade.”

And upgraded it is.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous. It is,” Mellon said. “It really has been designed with so much attention to detail. It amazes me that even the spaces have been laid out in order to support the content that students are going to be learning in the classrooms.”

For more back-to-school information in Gaston County, click here.

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