Plans to close Loyd Elementary on track

Plans are still on track to close Loyd Elementary School at Fort Benning and open new facilities for the 2016 school year, a post official said.

Built in 1958 and one of the oldest schools on post, Loyd Elementary is set to close at the end of the 2015-2016 school year, said Christy Huddleston, superintendent of the Georgia/Alabama District for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools. Construction of a new Loyd would have started in two years, but no funding was available for the 57-year-old school.

Huddleston said closure of the school will send some of the 450 Loyd students to the new McBride Elementary and the rest to Stowers Elementary School. Before the school closes, Huddleston said a celebration will be held in the spring.

The post currently has six elementary schools and one middle school.

Redistricting will require some changes in bus routes although Huddleston said she is committed to the neighborhood school concept."[The desire is for all students within a neighborhood to attend the same school," she said. "We will provide families with school assignments and detailed school bus routes and schedules in the spring of 2016."

The ribbon cutting for the new McBride School is expected at the end of this school year. The $34 million school will serve 650 students.

A new annex at Faith Middle School also will open for the 2016 school year.

Ground already has been broken for White Elementary School, which will open in August 2017. Serving about 600 students, White will cost about $34 million.

The cost for the new wing at Faith is lower than a new school, but it wasn't available.

Both McBride and White will incorporate the new Department of Defense Education Activity 21st Century design specifications.

Huddleston said completion of the new school and addition depends on the weather. "Our time line with the weather and everything is still on track," she said Friday.

Loyd bears the name of Frank R. Loyd, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a platoon leader with B Company, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. While growing up on Army posts, he attended fourth and fifth grades at Fort Benning.

In September 1950 near Uryong, Korea, Lt. Loyd helped to stop Task Force Dolvin. With his men, he used a pistol to force the well-fortified enemy to withdraw. Loyd was killed in action during the final assault and posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Plans to close Loyd Elementary on track ."