Sulphur Springs School District anticipates Golden Oak Elementary’s opening.

Being the 9th school to open in the Sulphur Springs School District, Golden Oak Elementary is definitely one of a kind.  With 20 classrooms, a library, a science lab, and a full baseball diamond, the school was built to hold 500 students and expects 350 kids from both the Valley View and Fair Oaks Ranch Elementary schools this fall.  

When asked what the new elementary would be like, Golden Oak Principal Gayle Abril said it will be top notch. 

Golden Oak Elementary, which has been named a “smart school”, has 20 “smart classrooms” packed with new technology, where each student will experience learning in a way most of us would have never imagined.  

 “To be named a ‘smart school’, you have to have three components.  The school must have interactive screens called ‘smart boards’, LightSPEED sound systems, and live feed cameras.  It will be a state of the art campus," said Abril.  We have so much to offer.”

Instead of your ordinary white board, each classroom will be equipped with a “smart board” which Abril says “is pretty much a 70 inch computer monitor”.  The teacher will open a file on their computer and all the students will be able to see it on the front board.  With this new system, teachers can pull up documents on the computer, and go to the screen in front of the students and arrange text, add content, show films, or write on it.  

No student should have a problem hearing their instructor either.  At Golden Oak Elementary, each room has a LightSPEED surround sound system.  There are 6 speakers in each room, and every teacher will have a microphone.  

And you can say “goodbye” to the traditional overhead projector.  This school has a live camera feed, which allows teachers to take pictures, edit photos, and magnify images.  “I’ve seen people take pictures of a bean and magnify it to look like a baked potato.  A teacher can take a picture and transfer it to the ‘smart board’ and do anything they want to it,” says Abril.  

Abril said that she also anticipates the school’s opening.  “It’s a beautiful little school, and we’re getting ready to open our doors to our students this August.”

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