The purpose of a school is to educate students in the school district so that they can go off and do great things later in life. A lot of times when someone is part of a continuously growing community, it can affect how schools work and manage their space. Gretna is a town constantly growing and expanding, and the schools have to compensate for the growing population that needs an education.
Over the last six years, the Gretna school district has produced five new schools, including three new elementary schools (Falling Waters, Harvest Hills, and Cedar Hollow), a new high school (Gretna East High School), and now the brand new middle school – Giles Creek Middle School – that is opening for the 2025-2026 school year.
The school board for GPS adopted Plan 19 when choosing where the dividing lines would be drawn, meaning there were 18 other options when choosing middle school boundaries. The board had to choose an option that would ultimately keep up with the growth of other schools but also make sure that its capacity was level with that of other schools. The average capacity for middle schools is about 800 students. When deciding the boundaries for Giles Creek, they looked at the capacity logistics but also had to look at how many students they currently have in the district, and also how many lots are available for houses to be built on. A map of the boundary lines is available at this link.
After drawing these lines, the board usually starts hearing some negative feedback from parents about their students having to go to new schools and being taken away from their friends when the schools are split. The superintendent of Gretna Public Schools, Travis Lightle, said that even though those phone calls are hard, he takes them as a pat on the back.
“Afterward, we usually hear negative feedback from those who are upset. I take every one of those phone calls as a compliment because, most of the time, if you’re in a middle school and you have to get moved it’s disappointing. But they love their school, they love their teachers, and they love their principal. Their kids have made friends,” Lightle said. “This tells me we’ve created an environment that their kids want to be a part of, and they’re mad that they have to leave.”
Most statistics do show that younger kids tend to make friends more easily, and Lightle said that they hope the shuffling around of schools won’t hinder the kids’ ability to make friends.
The construction of Giles Creek was somewhat overdue when, at the start of the school year in Aspen Creek Middle School, they had to install new lockers and were forced to use spaces that weren’t classrooms and convert them into educational spaces. These spaces were in need due to the increasing flow of students at ACMS, and they knew that they needed to get the construction done as fast as possible. During construction, there were some things to think about that they wanted to change from the original designs. The floor plan of GCMS is very similar to ACMS, with little tweaks to make the school function better based on the problems they have encountered in the past designs.
“Before Gretna East, when you were in Gretna High School and you walked the halls, it was kind of like walking the streets of New York City. When you’re walking around and there are always people. You just feel kind of nervous,” Lightle said. “And then Gretna East opens and you walk around those hallways, and it’s like walking in downtown Gretna. Open and free.”
Space is important when considering construction plans because having enough space for necessities is a must, but also having enough space that the area feels comfortable for the students is significant. They also have to think about space when considering the new furniture that is being installed in Gretna Public Schools at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year. Besides the little tweaks, there are also the requirements, including the distance from bathrooms and the spaces that are needed for different students’ needs. Those were just some of the things that they had to think about when changing the floor plan. The design of Giles Creek has been a work in progress since 2022, immediately following the finished designs of Gretna East High School. Lightle says that the construction of the school was done quickly and smoothly, and the school was done within an amazing timeline.
When searching for a new principal for the school, Riley Gross, the current assistant principal at Aspen Creek Middle School, said he was eager to take the job, and to build an environment that brings out the best in students and supports all students in the ways that they need.
“We have a core team almost created, and the things that we focus most on as a core team are creating core values. And once we have those values solidified, I think that as a core team we want to make sure that we ensure that all staff in the school understands them,” Gross said. “We just need to make sure that all the teachers and staff in the school think and act in a way that is creating an environment that is accepting all students unconditionally, which is our mission here.”
While Gross accepted this position with hopes of building a new culture with new staff and new faces, he said he’s going to miss the faculty at Aspen Creek Middle School, but also added that Gretna is a very fortunate district to have amazing staff in every single building.
“I’m excited to get to work with my new staff, but I’ll definitely be sad to leave some of these people that I’ve built relationships here with at Aspen Creek Middle,” Gross said.
The big question for the board after this middle school opens up is “What is the next project for Gretna Public Schools?” Lightle said that because of the amount of construction in the past six years, they should have some time to breathe and study the numbers of students entering the district, but the assumption is that the next construction project will be a new elementary school.
