RICHARDSON, Texas — The last day of school at Greenwood Hills Elementary Friday was more final than most.
As teachers and students hugged their goodbyes outside the Richardson ISD campus, the halls of the decades-old campus fell silent for the final time.
Greenwood Hills is one of four elementary schools the district closed at the end of the year as part of its "Project Rightsize" response to budget issues and declining enrollment.
"Lack of funding from the state is putting us in positions where the district has to make some choices on what to cut and what to keep," explained Principal Misti Lehman.
"That it really was for the success of the bigger picture," she explained. "We’re willing to do that, but it didn’t take away any of the pain."
The pain was on display from the start of the day -- as teachers watched their students file in for the final time.
"I’m really sad," said Cassie Starns, a 4th grade teacher at Greenwood Hills.
"That’s the hardest part is that I won’t get to see their faces in the hall. They won’t get to come at dismissal and tell me bye," she said. "It’ll be great to see what they do in the future, but it’s hard that I won’t get to witness it firsthand."
Even on the eve of summer, her students expressed bittersweet emotions as well.
"I don’t want it to ever end," said 10-year-old Elliot Despain. "After summer starts, I’ll never be able to come back."
Through tears, his classmate Madi Beukena describes the closure as "disappointing."
"I’ll just really miss the school and the people here," she said.
The students from Greenwood Hills will scatter to other schools across the district. The teachers will too, but the full reality of the end of time at the school they all called home has not yet sunk in.
"I think it's just surreal," Starns said. "I think after the summer will be the hardest."
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