Derby Middle school sets January opening

Written by Susan Hunter
Thursday, 05 November 2009 13:08

DERBY — Derby Middle School Principal Sally Bonina remembers the excitement she felt as a child when her parents took her to baseball games at Yankee Stadium, “the house that Ruth built.”

She said she feels the same excitement about the opening of the new Derby Middle School.

“This is the house Derby built,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the middle school finally having its own identity and middle school children finally having their own space.”

After years of wrangling over the school that will house grades six to eight across the road from Derby High School, residents finally approved the construction project at referendum in March 2007.

The new school is scheduled to open its doors to 7th and 8th graders on Jan. 4, weather permitting, said School Supt. Stephen Tracy.

On that day, the students, their teachers and staff, will leave the building they’ve been sharing with Derby High School students, and walk across the street to their new state-of-the-art school that’s on schedule and under budget.

Opening a brand new, technologically up-to-date school is a blessing, Tracy said, and the new school will free up space in the high school where teachers will be able to teach in their own classrooms, rather than moving from room to room.

Having more room may lead to the creation of new programs in the areas of alternative education and health care, Tracy said. Less crowding will enable all students to eat lunch in the middle of the day, rather than starting the lunch schedule at 10 a.m.

Next fall, sixth graders from Irving and Bradley Elementary schools will move to the middle school, creating more “elbow room” in the lower grades.

The new middle school “benefits every school,” Tracy said. “The big plus is that all schools will have ample space to run programs.”

The middle school will have its own gym and playing fields, creating more space and playing time for middle and high school athletics.

The move itself will be “relatively easy,” Tracy said, since teachers will need only to transport their own belongings and classroom supplies. The school construction budget is covering the cost of furniture and equipment.

Small adjustments to school bus drop-offs will be made, but no changes in bus routes are necessary.

“We don’t anticipate major problems,” Tracy sad.

About 519 people visited the school at an Oct. 24 open house, and they reacted enthusiastically to the new building.

“It was all positive,” he said.

Tracy said he thanked Keith McLiverty and his School Building Committee at the open house “for the work they’ve done for a year and a half.”

The project is 99 percent completed, McLiverty said, and work is being done on heating and mechanical systems, and on the “cafetorium,” the gym and front foyer.

Work crews are expected to finish their work in early December.

The $27.3 million project is more than a half million dollars under budget.

“The economy worked in our favor,” McLiverty said, with cheaper than expected costs for labor, raw materials, oil and asphalt.

The money that’s left over can only be used for the school project, he said, and may be used to offset borrowing costs or pay the initial debt payments.

Either way, taxpayers will benefit from the savings.

The overall increase in the city’s budget for the school project’s debt services is .26 of a mill and .27 of a mill for operational expenses, McLiverty said.

A mill is the amount of taxes paid per $1,000 worth of property value.

McLiverty praised the cooperation the building committee received from Tracy and Bonina.

“Steve and Sally have been phenomenal,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’ll turn the keys over to the Board of Education for a state-of-the-art facility.”

There will be smart boards in every classroom, a high end security system, a library with 7,000 new books; three computer labs and three Computers on Wheels (COWS) that can be moved around the building.

But a state-of-the-art facility comes with responsibilities.

“We as a community need to maintain this building,” he said.

Bonina’s immediate focus is on moving into the new school.

“Every time the staff saw another brick go in, the anticipation grew,” she said. “The excitement I feel is at a level that most people would never anticipate feeling. I’m thrilled.”