Etoile ISD hosts memorabilia giveaway before closing

NACOGDOCHES COUNTY, Texas (KTRE) - After announcing an absorption with Woden ISD earlier this year, Etoile school hosted a memorabilia giveaway before the school’s closing.

Many residents have lived in Etoile for generations and are sad to see the school close.

Gwenda Britt has lived in Etoile all her life saying, “everyone is disappointed and unhappy. For me, I’m very unhappy. My family settled Etoile and my dad was on the board here for 20-something years and his daddy before him.”

The school said the closing was due to financial reasons.

Kathy Whitworth had no idea the school was in financial trouble saying “the first thing I knew was it was closed. I mean I didn’t know they were in trouble. It’s still part of the community and we should have known.” She believes if the community would have known, they could have helped out.

Whitworth said that she, as well as her children, attended Etoile schools and she was picking up things for keepsakes.

The school gave away cheer, basketball, and football uniforms, yearbooks and school-branded clothing.

“I am looking for my children’s basketball jerseys like the numbers they had, some of the annuals to keep as mementos,” Whitworth said.

While all the school memorabilia will be given away, the building will sit. “We’ve got a really nice building here and it’s sad it’s going to waste. I don’t know what they’ll do with it,” Whitworth said.

Whitworth also says that the community keeps losing more and more, and the school is part of that. “It’s just like we’re losing a little bit more each day. We’ve lost so much that we had in the past and now it just seems like it’s dwindling away,” Whitworth said.

Etoile had 97 students before the absorption, and most of those students were elementary school kids. Between 70 and 80 students will be transferring from Etoile ISD to Woden Elementary making a 20 percent increase in the student population.

RELATED:

+ Etoile ISD agrees to shut down over financial reasons

+ Woden ISD superintendent talks challenges of absorbing Etoile ISD

Copyright 2022 KTRE. All rights reserved.