HUNTER ARMY AIRFIELD, Ga. — The Hunter Army Airfield command team joined education leaders from across the Savannah community, Aug. 15, 2024, for a ribbon cutting at Pulaski K-8 School on the installation. The event signaled the school’s transition from an elementary school with kindergarten through fifth grade students, to a school serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade.
“This project has been years in making and it started with our military families asking for a place to send their students,” said Lt. Col. Derick Taylor, Hunter Army Airfield garrison commander. “Military families move around a lot and when they come to a community like Savannah they really hope to stay here as long as they possibly can. It’s important to have that stability in the school system that a school like Pulaski K-8 offers.”
The ribbon cutting came nine days shy of the 14th anniversary of the Pulaski Elementary School groundbreaking. At the time of the groundbreaking, the previous Pulaski Elementary School was located on Montgomery Street in Savannah right outside of Hunter’s main gate. With more than 50 percent of the students attending the school, military families requested a school be established on Hunter Army Airfield.
Pulaski Elementary opened its doors in 2011, the first Savannah public school built on Department of Defense land. All elementary-school-aged children living on Hunter Army Airfield were zoned to attend the school. Now, elementary and middle school students living on Hunter are zoned to attend the school.
Command Sgt. Maj. Keiven Favor, the garrison command sergeant major, also attended the event. Favor has a son who attends the school and says military children silently sacrifice for the sake of the service member’s mission and duty to the nation. Being able to provide a small element of stability can make a difference in a child's life.
“A kindergarten through eighth grade school isn’t the norm for most of the country, but it makes so much sense for a military installation, “said Favor. “While we are at Hunter, my son doesn’t have to worry about going to middle school and losing his friends to a different school because of zoning. He doesn’t have to try and learn how to navigate a new school building. Teachers he had in elementary school will be right down the hall when he enters middle school. All of these things are small priorities to us as adults, but it goes a long way for our children.”
The school, though located on Hunter property, does not have car access onto the installation. A walking gate, located near the school’s front entrance, is manned by security guards during the school hours and locked during non-school hours.
The expanded facility increased the size of the school to approximately 150,000 square feet, with 12 classrooms, two courtyards with planters for gardening, and art and music facilities.
Social Sharing