Dallas ISD Students Leave Their ‘Mark' While Saying Goodbye to School Building

The school year might be behind us but a group of Dallas Independent School District students held on to a sweet memory going into the summer.

Students and staff at Geneva Heights Elementary School bid farewell to their school building.

Literally.

On the last day of school, they wrote heartfelt notes on the walls and doors with permanent markers.

Dallas ISD Students Say Goodbye to School Building

They were able to do that because the school is about to be reconstructed into a totally new campus starting this summer.

The original school building was constructed in 1931. District officials say everything will be torn down and rebuilt for a school building that will better serve students.

“One of the reasons I am so excited is because we have a larger student body and I want to be able to put them comfortably in a building, and I do think we need this new building in order to do that,” school principal Patrice Lane said in a news release. “It’s a beautiful structure, down to the detail.”

So students and their teachers were able to say goodbye and "leave their mark" on a building that holds so many memories for them.

“I know we will get through missing the building,” said student council president Celisse Bazaldua. "We’ll take our memories with us, and not only be the Cougars that close the chapter, but some of us will be the Cougars that open the new chapter.” 

The school’s redesign is part of Dallas ISD’s Bond 2020 project which, in total, is a $31 million investment. The new design includes new PK-5 classrooms, collaboration spaces, secured entrances, a gymnasium, outdoor playgrounds, playfields, learning spaces and music, science and fine arts classrooms.

Construction will last two years. The new Geneva Heights Elementary School will open in fall 2024.

Until then, students and staff will be operating from the former Jill Stone Elementary School in Vickery Meadows.