There is now more computer access in the library's media area.

By Michael Mee

mmee@newsaegis.com

The new building on the Ragland School campus brings more room and more equipment to the county’s smallest school.

Work on the new building began last year and was wrapped up in time for school to begin last week.

St. Clair Superintendant Jenny Seals said the shcool board is excited about the “beatiful” new addition in Ragland, but noted that “the true beauty lies inside with the students.  This will give them all an opportunity to take pride in themselves and their community and hopefully ignite an interest in learning.”

The new Ragland building houses a spacious office area, greeting visitors and students as they walk into Ragland middle and high schools.

The second story has six new classrooms for the sixth, seventh and eighth grades and the building connects to the older Ragland High School.

Regina Boswell, Library and Media Specialist said that the new building gives her an opportunity to expand resources for students from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

The new library has a classroom-sized meeting area and ten new computer terminals. Students attending RHS are still taking part in the ACCESS distance learning facility, installed two springs ago.

There is also a book storage room to keep classrooms from being cluttered.

Genny Ball, who has been at Ragland for seven years after 18 at Ashville Elementary, said that students are will signing up for those classes this week.

The Ragland Elementary School building will have a facing that looks like the new building’s exterior come January, with cobblestone walkways and the blond stone entrance.

Ball  said that giving Ragland the same opportunity to grow has been a long time coming.

She said that technology improvements like the recent addition of ELMO projectors and laptops in classrooms has helped.

Ball said that these improvements are welcome, since “the students in Ragland deserve the same quality of education as the kids at the other end of the county have.”