Two Pasco County schools opened their doors after being closed for two years. Both Shady Hills and Quail Hallow elementary schools were completely remodeled.
“First day of school in the new school!” said Tracy Anderson, a mother of five current students and one former student at Shady Hills. It was a different kind of first day for the family.
Anderson has a child in each grade and on Monday they all saw it differently than they had before.
“They changed this so much," fifth-grader Haley Anderson said about the media center. "It used to be little crowded tables in here and now it’s just like a big open space."
We followed the Andersons as Tracy dropped each student off at their class. As they toured the new school, each one’s eyes opened wide at all the new technology and the bright new colors.
“It’s very exciting to see how much they’ve changed in just a little amount of time,” said Haley Anderson.
Students were excited to see this year they could do something they were never allowed to do: write on their desks.
“They can write on it with an expo marker and they can take a screen shot of that with an iPad and project it for the whole class to see,” said teacher Stephanie Hodges.
Snapping pictures and seeing old faces are all new memories for the old school, turned new.
"It was so exciting to have them back all at the new school, great adventure, all beautiful, the color formation," Tracy Anderson said. "It's wonderful here."
Two other schools, Anclote Elementary and Bayonet Middle, were closed after the last school year. They too will be completely renovated and remodeled.