Grand Junction, CO - D51 staff have all moved out of the Hawthorne Building at 410 Hill Ave., but some very special artwork hanging on the walls at Hawthorne is still looking for a new home.
Students and staff at the old Columbine Elementary School made and decorated clay tiles in the 1997-98 school year. The tiles were grouped by grade level and made into wall art. Columbine Elementary was demolished in 2007 to make way for the new Chipeta Elementary School using 2004 bond measure savings. At that time, the tiles moved out of the school and into the Hawthorne administrative building.
The five tile groupings are four feet by four feet and weigh about 50-60 pounds each.
"We would love for them to go to a place available to the public, and we'd like to keep them all together," said Karen Severson, an Early Childhood Special Educator who moved from Hawthorne to the Basil T. Knight Center this spring and a former Columbine employee.
Hawthorne, built in 1910, has aged beyond its usable life. The staff there have relocated to either the Basil T. Knight Center, 596 N. Westgate Dr., or a leased space at 2768 Compass Drive.
The Compass location is home to staff who work in Nursing, Gifted/Talented, Student Services and Support, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education, Social Emotional Learning and Behavior Support, Behavior Systems Support, Prevention Services, REACH, MTSS, and SOLE, plus the School Counselor Coordinator.
BTK departments now include Early Childhood Education/Preschool, Audiology/DHH, Vision, Child Find, Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy, Special Education (including Records), Medicaid, APES, SWAAAC-Assistive Technology, and some Translation positions.