AUSTIN — AUSTIN - One Northwest Austin school is closing its doors after educating young ones for almost 50 years.
Doss Elementary in North Austin will soon be demolished - and a bigger state-of-the-art campus will take its place. Some teachers have worked in the school for decades. They said that makes the move bittersweet.
“It's kind of sad for me,” said Sue Raup, a longtime teacher. “I love this school so much and I’ll probably be here when they start demolishing it."
Sue Raup is a first grade teacher. Her room is now all packed up. She said she started teaching at Doss Elementary in 1973.
“I've worked under every principal here that's pretty unique,” said Raup. “My children went here that's a fond memory for me."
She and many others have had lots of great memories in the building that's all set for demolition. In honor of those memories, with the principal’s approval, teachers and students decided to leave their mark by writing on the walls.
“Number one, it was fun to sign the wall, but number two the messages were so great, ‘Thank you Doss and I love Doss so much,’” said Principal Janna Griffins.
“I’ve been in five different rooms throughout Doss and a friend of mine and I wrote on every single room that we had been in,” said Raup.
Between the messages on the wall and the words etched in the concrete, those at Doss Elementary are preparing to close this chapter and start something new.
“Really it is just a building,” said Nina Quinton, a teacher. “I love it. The trees everything's lovely but when it comes down to it. It's the people and the families who make this building special and make Doss Elementary, Doss Elementary."
The movers are coming in next week to pick up the school's furniture and move it to their temporary home at Lucy Read. Doss Elementary's new campus will be two stories - and will be able to hold nearly 1,000 students.
The construction of the new school is among the first major projects being tackled in the $1 billion bond package approved by voters last year.
Students will return to the new campus in 2020.