Faculty members view school for first time

Odessa Wilson will have empathy when she watches anxious students walk through the doors of Cane Bay High School for the first time this fall.

The social studies teacher said she had butterflies in her stomach all morning before touring the new high school with fellow faculty members today. "It felt like the first day of school," said Wilson, who currently teaches at North Charleston High. "I couldn't wait to get in this building. It's just awesome to be a part of something so new and fresh."

Opening this fall as Berkeley's seventh high school, Cane Bay is expected to have an initial enrollment of 700 to 800 students in ninth and 10th grades. The school will add a grade level each year, and officials project an eventual enrollment of 1,500 students by the 2010-11 school year.

Cane Bay Principal Cassandra Jennings has worked all winter to hire roughly 40 teachers as Cane Bay's inaugural faculty members, but none of them had glimpsed the inside of the building before today. Teachers demonstrated excitement and awe as they walked under a canopied entrance designed with seven archways. They then viewed the two-floor common area, which serves at the school's central gathering place and leads to the cafeteria, auditorium and media center.

The building still remains under construction, but teachers seemed pleased to see many wings with tile floors, ceilings and wires already installed. They also clapped when Jennings mentioned that each wing features professional development rooms and faculty lounges.

Read more in Saturday's edition of The Post and Courier.