Friday, September 13, 2024
AZLE — Along with the rest of the district, Azle Elementary, colloquially known as The Rock School, started its first day of class Wednesday, Aug. 14. Located on Lakeview Drive, the school serves roughly 750 fifth and sixth grade students.
The current Azle Elementary School opened in 2018 as a replacement for the original Rock School on Roe Street, which now serves as the Azle Independent School District administration building. The original building housed Azle students and educators since 1939 and was built with New Deal Works Progress Administration funds for first through twelfth grades after a larger school was needed for the growing community.
Over the summer, Shaunary Feller was named Azle Elementary’s new principal after former principal Kristen Kiss departed for Eagle Ridge Elementary School in Keller ISD. Feller has worked in Azle ISD for 25 years as a teacher, counselor, administrator and more. Feller has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a master’s degree in school counseling, and a doctoral degree in education with a focus in special education. She lives in Decatur with her husband, Nick, a daughter, Katie, and a son who graduated from Azle High School, Cale McDonnell.
Feller was excited to go back to her roots and return to a campus environment after working in administration over the last few years.
“It’s been very smooth this morning,” Feller said of her first day as principal in a fully populated Azle Elementary. “The parents have been so patient while we waited for the teachers to get to their classrooms. I'm just really excited. It's going to be good.”
Fifth-grader Tayla Presley started her first day at Azle Elementary alongside her aunt, sixth-grader Eden Leeson. The pair were excited to be in school together and to see their friends after the summer. Leeson and her mother said Azle Elementary was the best school she’s ever been in.
“We came from Galveston, and they were bullied and tortured so bad down there,” Leeson’s mother said. “We moved here like in March, just at the end of the school year, and she just loves it. My mom was in the corner, she was like, ‘she was never this excited in Galveston.’ She cried every day from just everything.”
Azle Elementary fifth-grader Journie Edmonds entered school with her friend Gianna Zavala. The two were most excited to see friends new and old. Edmonds’ mom was excited for the start of school but also wishes she could keep them home longer.
Azle Elementary fifth-grader Alanna Baker came in with her mother and asked Feller for directions to her homeroom. Feller pointed them in the right direction and remarked on how much of the first day confusion has been eliminated with different software and apps the district now uses. Baker said the thing she was most excited for this year was lunch.
