Schools Open: Dramatic New Spaces

by Judy Silberstein

( September 5, 2002) The good news: First day of school in the Mamaroneck School District went smoothly according to Director of Public Information Joan Rosen who visited all six buildings. The hitch: Not all classrooms were ready for immediate occupancy. The solution: Some teachers were sharing space; others were ensconced in temporary quarters. With the exception of the new Hommocks Auditorium, most new or renovated rooms will be ready in the next week or two.

Superintendent Sherry King characterized this summer’s construction projects as the most ambitious and most challenging in the past decade. As she conducted a pre-opening day tour for the School Board, PTA presidents and interested community members, Dr. King pointed out the tremendous scope of work undertaken this summer. Some projects had begun before June, but all needed to be substantially ready by September.

The tour began on Tuesday evening as a walk through the new science wing at the high school, where existing classrooms had been completely transformed into fifteen modern physics, chemistry, earth science or general science classes. To go with the updated facilities, are were new floors, ceilings, lighting, doors and paint all of which reflect the style of a future addition and renovation for other parts of the high school. Another dramatic sight was the track and baseball field, still in the early phases of a makeover that will require at least two grass growing seasons to complete.

The tour moved onto a large yellow school bus for a trip to to Mamaroneck Avenue School where the highlights included updated, expanded and brightly lit classrooms and fanciful confetti hallway floor tiles which were still being installed.

Moving back into the bus, the group motored over the Hommocks and a look at the newly renovated Commons and the expanded, updated, remodeled and refurnished library. Tour members bounced on the new chairs and peered into the four new classrooms fashioned out of the unused atria (also know as the “birdbaths”) formerly found in each corner of the library. The tour also tiptoed around ongoing paint and construction to reach the largely completed classrooms of the new wing. In the upcoming weeks, students and teachers will be moving into classrooms in the new wing, but the new auditorium will require additional time.

As the tour ended, custodians, painters and construction workers remained in the buildings. They intended to finish as much as they could before the students started showing up on Wednesday morning

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