Most current H-B students didn’t have the chance to experience the old H-B building, so I spoke with our principal, Casey Robinson, to find out more about the move.
It turns out that APS made the decision to move H-B for the 2019-2020 school year, and it wasn’t H-B’s decision at all. Casey commented on how “ultimately H-B was not very happy with the move” and that she wishes she had some say in whether or not they were going to relocate.
On December 18, 2014 the School Board approved the construction of a new school to be built at 1601 Wilson Blvd. The building was designed to hold 775 students which included the Shriver program coming along with the Woodlawn program. When H-B moved, there were still some finishing touches such as the theater and some safety inspections.
Part of the move would be naming the sight of the building. Some of the community gave some suggestions for the name, but Eleanor (8th grade geography teacher) decided it would be a fun project for her class to come up with the name. The idea was a perfect fit, so that is how the site was named “The Heights.”
Eventually, they made the transfer to Rosslyn in 2019, along with the Shriver program. Most teachers continued working at H-B, but some did retire because of the move.
I spoke with Casey about the location difference, and she mentioned that they kept most of their rules the same, and just enforced them more than they did at the old building.
Since the move, Casey has observed positives and negatives. On the negative side, she said it is harder to monitor students when they go off-campus. “I don’t like how the front door isn’t near the main office, because it’s harder to see who’s being let into the building,” Casey explains. She would rather have it in a safer and more secure place.
On the positive side, she said she loves the design of the Heights building as well as how they kept places for students to hang out and relax, which is something they wanted to remain similar to the old building.
