Residents get look at middle school renovations

Enhanced technology and safety features, upgraded classroom amenities, a new library and a state-of-the-art sound system and television control room are among the highlights of the $20 million renovation to South Park Middle School.

The addition of a new, 700seat gymnasium and administrative offices suite increased the school size from 97,505-square-feet to 110,337.

The renovations to the school, which was built in 1976, also added a 200-seat room for large group instruction; fitness room; computer lab; and a larger cafeteria and kitchen for more meal choices.

The district borrowed most of the funding for the project.

“It’s a brand-new building, basically,” principal Kevin M. Monaghan said at a May 3 event billed as the “South Park Middle School Showcase” in which the community was invited to tour for the firsttime the renovated school at 2500 Stewart Road.

In keeping with the evening’s theme, students’ talents and classwork were on display, including Luke Furman, 14, playing an electric piano to greet visitors as they entered.

The evening also included band and chorus performances, art exhibits, shoebox science projects and more throughout the building’s two floors.

“The renovations provide students and teachers with the opportunity to improve academically and within the arts as the capabilities of technology are now integrated into all of our classrooms,” superintendent Wayne Gdovic said.

All 38 freshly painted classrooms have new televisions with built-in internet connectivity as well as new ceilings and flooring.

The band and chorus rooms also have new paint and flooring and first-time acoustic panels.

Interior and exterior security cameras have been added, except in classrooms.

The TV control room is expected to be completed during the summer.

“We hope this is something the community will embrace with announcements or shows produced by our kids,” Mr. Monaghan said of the TV control room.

A new room, off the Applied Engineering and Technology classroom and called the “shop,” provides theory and instruction.

Students create designs on the computer, which they then send to the 3-D printer to produce three-dimensional objects.

“What you create, you can use,” said Preston Cecotti, 13.

The renovation project began in June 2015 and was completed in January of this year. The school, which houses grades 5-8, never closed to students.

For the 2015-16 school year, fifth-graders remained at South Park Elementary Center, which they had attended when they were in grades 1-4, for the renovation work. Students in grades 6-8 attended the middle school but were away from the construction.

All 560 students returned in fall 2016.