Germantown’s newest school under construction
The foundation has been poured and walls are going up at 3366 Forest Hill-Irene Road, the location of Germantown Municipal School District’s newest school, Forest Hill Elementary.
District officials hoped teachers could start preparing classrooms in late May. Although some rain has delayed progress, Josh Cathey, GMSD chief of operations, hopes teachers can settle in by early June.
Superintendent Jason Manuel is excited about many aspects of the new building, but he is looking forward to seeing how staff uses the new activity spaces.
Each floor will have multipurpose activity rooms teachers can reserve. The rooms can be used for wet labs, art activities or other interactive projects instruc-
tors do outside the classroom. The rooms will have sinks and a large glass wall so other students and teachers can peer inside.
District officials are seeking sustainability with the school’s new design.
“One new goal at all of our facilities is looking at utility costs,” Manuel said.
Farmington Elementary replaced its fluorescent lights with LED lights over the summer, and the new school will have those lights. The new lights have timers, which can reduce costs. In the new school, the teachers will be able to control brightness.
“They’re better on the eyes, better quality for the kids in the classroom,” Cathey said.
The flooring will be Marmoleum, which is another way the district can save time and resources.
Manuel said most schools have tile that has to be waxed. Each summer, harsh chemicals are used on the floors and the process can take months, making the school inaccessible to staff. The new floors are easier to clean. They were used in Riverdale School’s middle school addition and proved successful, according to Cathey.
The school sits in the middle of 38 acres, and there are large trees creating a natural buffer with the surrounding neighborhoods.
“We’ve tried to save a lot of these trees just to create that campus feel,” Manuel said.
The school also will have up-to-date security features similar to the improvements made at the district’s five other schools over the summer.
One concern with the school’s construction has been the Forest-Hill Irene Road project, which will last until early 2020.
While the city of Germantown said the goal is to complete the portion in front of the school by August, Manuel said the design on the property will help with traffic flow.
“We are trying to have minimal impact on the neighbors,” Manuel said. “(The property) can hold over 400 cars and we’re talking about opening with less than 400 students, so that is going to get a lot of traffic off of Forest Hill-Irene.”
GMSD’s headquarters will move to the site in a building adjacent to the school.
Currently, the district’s staff has an office at Carrefour at Kirby Woods, but Cathey and Manuel said they have outgrown the space, as many times multiple people share an office.
There are two conference rooms that will be at “the heart of the office,” Cathey said. The two rooms are divided by a wall that can be folded up to make one large conference room.
In addition to more offices and warehouse space, the building will have its own board meeting room, which will allow flexibility to schedule board of education meetings.
The room will have a stage in front and chairs and desks can move around to create a multipurpose space.
“That space could be open to any community groups that need to use that space,” Manuel said.
Pouring the foundation is the next step for the headquarters building. Cathey hopes the staff can move there in July.