Community given tour of new Parkview

CLOVIS — As Clovis Municipal Schools celebrated the opening of the new Parkview Elementary School with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, students, parents and community members were given their first chance to tour the new building.

Those in attendance said they were blown away by the size of the classrooms, storage availability and natural lighting.

"I'm really impressed," said Lora Harlan, a former Clovis school board member. "Lots of space for all the classrooms, lots of light coming in the windows."

Kay Berry, who taught at the original Parkview for more than 20 years, complimented the new building on its "nice and fresh" look, which includes polished concrete floors and the theme of Parkview's school colors yellow and blue seen throughout the building.

Sue Jennings, a former teacher at Cameo Elementary for 27 years, said she enjoyed the access to technology available to students and the fact so many people were in attendance for the event.

"There's so many people here to see it, the support of the community is wonderful," Jennings said.

Principal Wayne Marshall estimated 200 or more people attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"To me it says a lot about the town we live in because I don't think things like that happen in big cities," Marshall said.

Several people in attendance said there is no comparison between the new Parkview and the original school that opened in 1958.

"I'm going to sound politically correct but let me just say the old Parkview served its purpose well when it was built — but it was time for an upgrade and this is a beautiful upgrade," Harlan said.