New middle school opens in Warren

By Ed Runyan

The building has two gymnasiums.

WARREN — It was a little like getting your first ride in a brand new car: Everything was clean, working properly, flawless.

For about 1,000 kids from kindergarten through eighth grade in southeastern Warren, the first day at the Willard K-8 building on Willard Avenue on Tuesday was an eye-opening, even jaw-dropping experience.

“I was very shocked. When I saw the gym, I just opened my mouth really wide,” said Cameren Seawood, a fourth-grader.

“When I came in here, it was just amazing,” he added as he stood inside the media center, or library.

“From the outside, it looked just like a big home,” said Tren’Neisha Meely, also a fourth-grader. “When I saw inside, it was real cool.”

Ivan Mach, another fourth-grader, said he was the most impressed by the lunchroom and improved selection of breakfast choices.

Roughly 90 percent of children in grades kindergarten through grade 8 make use of the free breakfast, said Kathryn Hellweg, Warren’s superintendent.

It took teamwork to make the move from the Devon and East buildings in the middle of the school year, said Leslie McBane, a 15-year reading teacher.

“We’re thrilled because it’s going to be a really great work environment. We’re excited for the kids to see it,” she said before her first students arrived for the day.

Gwen Martino, library/media specialist, a 35-year employee, said the projection units hanging from the ceiling in each classroom will allow teachers to project DVD and VHS films and lessons from the teacher’s computer onto the front wall with little set-up time.

Surround-sound speakers will work in conjunction with microphones in each classroom to allow students and teachers to be heard better, she added.

Unlike the 85-year-old, three-story East building on South Street, the new Willard K-8 two-story building has a modern heating and air conditioning system and a larger library with better acoustics to dampen unwanted noise.

The building features two gymnasiums, the smaller of the two being adjacent to a stage that also opens on the other side to the cafeteria/auditorium.

Hellweg said the color scheme in the building has been compared to a “crayon box.”

Security is improved with security doors, cameras throughout and telephones in each classroom.

In the lunchroom, pupils can pay with cash, but many use the finger-image scanner that handles payment electronically so that a child’s friends don’t have to know who qualifies for free or reduced-price meals. About 72 percent of students in the district qualify.

Willard, just south of U.S. Route 422, nearly two miles from downtown, is the second of four new K-8 buildings in the district.

Like the previously completed Lincoln K-8 on Atlantic Street Northeast, Willard is divided into three “pods” of K-2, 3-5 and 6-8. The 3-5 pod is on the top floor, with the two other pods divided on the first floor. Each pod has its own principal.

Construction on two other K-8 buildings — on Fifth Street Southwest and Tod Avenue Northwest — are likely to get under way in April and be ready for the start of the 2010-2011 school year, Hellweg said.

runyan@vindy.com