By Talia Sampson | Daily Republic | February 03, 2009
Suisun Elementary School second grader Brianna Medina works on math problems in one of the school's new classrooms. Classes in the new building began in December and the a new playground should be finished sometime this week. Photo by Chris Jordan
FAIRFIELD - Fifth-grader Taya Randolph is excited every time she walks into her new classroom at Suisun Elementary School.
'The coolest part is the SMART board,' said Taya, 11, who added that built-in cabinets made the room more organized than the cramped portable her class called home until January. 'There's a lot more space to be in groups.'
The portable classrooms, which originally were meant to be temporary, wore out their welcome after more than 25 years and were removed in December.
Students and teachers were not sad to see them go.
'The other rooms were small and messy,' Taya said. 'Everyone was crammed together, the carpet was stained and they seemed shaky.'
Using bonds from Measure C, which was passed in 2002, the school built a new wing with 12 classrooms and improved technology. The playground is being expanded, Principal Richard Yee said, and a sustainable teaching garden will be created.
Each classroom is 960 square feet.
'The biggest thing I noticed was the light because I can finally see,' said Jeff Wurth, a second-grade teacher. 'With the old portables, we were living in the dark ages.'
Wurth attended the school in the 1980s and spent time in the same portable classroom where he was teaching before the new wing was built.
The teachers moved into their new classrooms the week before Christmas, and students entered the new wing for the first time when they returned from winter break.
'The first day I let (my students) go and open cupboards and all the drawers,' Wurth said. 'We have one cupboard that we talked about being big enough to sleep in.'
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