CRESTVIEW — Northwood Elementary School principal Donna Goode will usher in a new arts-based curriculum and reverse her predecessor’s decision about yearbook orders.
The Northwood Arts and Science Academy — a science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics-based curriculum — will enhance the school’s current STEM curriculum, administrators said.
"There is a great marriage between what (students) are learning academically and how they can express it through art," said acting assistant principal Barry Blackburn.
The academy can accommodate a dance studio with a band room and gymnasium for performances, but the program will cater to students with general interests, she said.
The principal — who plans to add science and technology-based courses in the next few years — is in the process of hiring two teachers for the art curriculum, pending the Okaloosa County School Board’s approval. The school has funding for teachers, but needs a portage stage, sound system, costumes and prop donations for the drama program, Goode said.
Yearbooks returning
Last year, the school was Crestview’s lone elementary school without yearbooks; former principal Jacqueline Craig said yearbooks were cost prohibitive for the school and the parents.
However, Goode plans to bring them back in 2014.
"There is no reason why we can't have one," she said. "I can't address what happened in the past; it was just a different administrative decision."
Goode was principal for 14 years at Owens Cross Roads Elementary School in Alabama, which she said broke even with yearbook costs.
She asks that community volunteers, including parents, help put the yearbooks together.
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown at 850-682-6524 or matthewb@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbMatthew.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: New Northwood principal addresses art program, yearbooks