A 60-year-old Garland elementary school is making way for a new school with cutting-edge technology.
Until Tuesday, the Garland Independent School District had never demolished a school building. But officials said it was time to say goodbye to W.C. Daugherty Elementary on West Miller Road.
"It hurt," said Linda Denman, who attended school at Daugherty Elementary in 1953. "It's like digging out a spot of me, but I know it's for the good."
The building had reached its 400-student capacity and did not have enough room for all of the students who live in the neighborhood.
"There are 400, 600 kids who get on a bus every morning because I don't have space for them," Principal Deborah Henson said. "Our new building will house about 800 children, so those will be children that aren't getting on the bus, that come down the street to school."
Henson took pictures to hold onto the past.
"There was a lot of sadness," she said. "I have to admit, tears came to my eyes, and I'm not a person who cries easily."
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The new two-story, $17 million school was paid for in the 2002-2003 bond election. The district decided to keep the same land because new land wasn't available in the city.
Construction will last about a year. Students and teachers will go to another school about two miles away.
The district will dedicate the new building at the start of the 2013-2014 school year.
"Changes are always coming and are always good, so it will be a better place and maybe it will help improve the neighborhood," said Dempsey Denman, who went to the school in 1954.
