Staff, families welcome school upgrades
Facility on Kirtland AFB property landed $16M grant
Carla Sanchez attended Wherry Elementary in the mid-to-late ‘80s. Today, two of her daughters go to school there. “It’s definitely a major improvement,” she said. “It gives them more incentive to want to come to school because they have new buildings. They’re not having to deal with old buildings that are breaking down, ceiling tiles falling.”
All three were in attendance to celebrate the grand opening of the newly rebuilt Wherry Elementary School, which boasts 61,000 square feet of new construction and 11,000 square feet of renovated space, on Thursday night.
The event was a mix of schoolchildren, their families, Wherry staff and men and women in uniform, as most of the project was financed through a $16.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment.
Wherry, originally built in 1952, is located along Gibson SE near Pennsylvania on the property of Kirtland Air Force Base, though outside of the fence line.
Only a small percentage of the 420 or so students who attend are the children of military members, but it was enough to qualify the school for the grant.
It was identified as a public school located on a military installation in dire need of repairs on a 2011 Department of Defense priority list, where it was ranked 11th out of 156 schools.
“I can’t speak to the condition of Wherry before the construction, but I know it must have been in true need of upgrade because not many schools would qualify for that,” said Col. Richard Gibbs, Commander of the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland.
Albuquerque Public Schools put in $5.5 million for the first phase of the project completed in 2011.
Improvements include new and larger classrooms, new computer labs, library, cafeteria and kitchen and music and art wing.
“The building now actually reflects the quality of teaching and learning that is the history of Wherry,” said APS school board member Barbara Petersen, who once taught at the school and represents the district Wherry is in.