As public school students went off to class on their first day of the academic year in Lexington, hundreds entered a brand new building.
The opening of Frederick Douglass High School brought with it some challenges.
Principal Lester Diaz says students in the district served by Frederick Douglass were given the option of staying where they attended last year. But, he says many of them are choosing the new Winchester Road school and enrollment is growing.
Diaz says a school designed for 867 students opened to over a thousand on the first day.
“I’ve got a plan on how to grow and where to add teachers and how to make the schedule looser and accommodate more students, but I have to implement that plan and in order to implement that plan I need more teachers,” said Diaz.
Diaz says there were additional substitute teachers assigned to his school.
One of the seniors attending Frederick Douglass is Jefferson Harkless, who accepts the fact he’ll only have one year in the new school.
“It’s just exciting to be part of the first graduating class ever. Your name will be in the history books for ever," explained Harkless.
In terms of history, a previous school in Lexington with the same name served primary and secondary students from 1929 to 1971. Diaz says some members of the Douglass alumni group were on hand to welcome first-day students as they got off the bus.
