Watson extends welcome to Davis

A Watson Welcome

Video

Students of Davis Elementary are welcomed to Austintown's Watson Elementary school.

By Ed Runyan

Additional space will be available in Watson when the transportation department leaves.

AUSTINTOWN — With one word, Davis Elementary second-grader Justine Strickland summed up the attitude of the 80 Davis pupils who traveled to Watson Elementary to see their new school: “Awesome.”

Justine, her little brother, Squire, and her parents, Brian and Hallie Strickland, made the trip Monday, saw the classrooms, playground and multipurpose room and received a welcoming song and dance from the second-grade class at Watson.

The kids will be relocated to Watson from Davis for next year. The school board closed Davis to save money. The district’s four elementary schools contain kindergarten through fourth grade.

Parents seemed similarly optimistic, though many had questions.

Brian Strickland said his biggest question is whether class size will rise with the addition of 100 pupils at Watson, which already is the largest of the district’s elementary schools with 350 pupils.

Watson Principal Jim Carchedi assured the parents the ratio would remain the same, with about 25 pupils from the current Davis boundaries making the move next year in each of grades kindergarten through third grade.

One teacher will be added at Watson for each grade, he said. Carchedi also hopes for an additional special education teacher in his building, he said, because pupils in special education also will move to Watson.

Brian Strickland, who attended Davis himself, and his wife, Hallie, who attended Watson, said the tour helped them adjust to the move.

They’re not concerned the move will cause any problems.

“They’ll do well wherever they go,” Brian said of Justine and his son, who is in kindergarten. A key, he said, is that he works with both children every night to make sure they are mastering their studies.

As for mixing with their new classmates, Brian said, “They’re not shy.”

Carchedi made sure the Davis pupils got a good start in meeting their new classmates, as each new pupil was paired with a “Falcon Buddy,” who wrote his pal a welcoming letter.

Each Davis pupil also received a navy blue baseball cap at the welcome ceremony. It has the Austintown falcon logo on the front with the word “Watson” on the back.

Carchedi told the pupils and their parents he understands that changing schools can be stressful — perhaps more so for the parents than the children — but he knows such moves can be positive in the long run.

As a 22-year-old teacher at Howland Glen Elementary School in 1974, Carchedi lost his position as a sixth-grade teacher because of financial issues at Howland. The job loss landed him at Davis Elementary, where he taught four years.

“It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me,” the longtime Austintown administrator said.

The children will bond with one another and adjust just fine, Carchedi said, adding, “In a month, nobody will know who is from Davis and who is from Watson. We will all be Davis Owls,” he predicted.

The principal admits next year is likely to be a challenge for him personally. He has talked to Superintendent Doug Heuer about the need to have sufficient staffing and support in areas such as guidance, nursing, kitchen and secretarial since he will be the lone administrator for 450 pupils.

The school will have to add a third lunch period next year to accommodate the additional pupils.

Classroom space at Watson will grow sometime next school year, Carchedi said, when the transportation offices move out of Watson and into new facilities.

The former transportation space at Watson will become classrooms for art and music sometime during the fall, Carchedi said. Until then, art and music teachers will travel from room to room.

He believes the superintendent will give him the necessary resources, he said.

“There can’t be any snags, or people will say, ‘I told you so,’” he added of those who fought the closing of Davis.

Tom Lenton, principal at Davis, will become principal at Lynn Kirk Elementary School next year.

runyan@vindy.com