Opening of Auditorium Crowns Hommocks Renovations
by Joan R. Simon
(November 19, 2003) The eagerly-anticipated opening of the
sparkling new Hommocks Auditorium was celebrated at the School
Board meeting Tuesday
night, November 18.
“Middle Schools can be like middle
children,” commented Principal Dr. Seth Weitzman, but
fortunately that has not been the case at the Hommocks. A
$17 million
bond, passed in January 2000, has delivered a “state
of the art” new 590-seat auditorium, 12 updated science
labs, a refurbished library, 11 new classrooms, a redone
planetarium, and 5 new computer labs. With the renovation
of 40 classrooms, a standard 7-8 grade middle school has
been transformed into “four cozy schools within a school,” Dr.
Weitzman noted, and now accommodates grades 6 through 8 and
50 percent more students than before the renovation.
Board
President Martin & Asst. Supt. Tate cut
the ribbon at the official opening of the auditorium. |
Dr. Sherry King noted that the goal had been to “not
just add space but redesign an entire building for a new
function.” She thanked all the many people who had
worked for the completion of the Hommocks renovation and
singled out Sarah Tate, Assistant Superintendent for Operations,
who she called “the keeper of every piece of the vision.”
The road to completion was a long and bumpy one, with the
initial planning starting in 1990 with the “Marks
Committee” report which recommended a 6-7-8 grade
middle school to incorporate anticipated growth in the
elementary school population as well as an educational
model more suitable to the age group. The community voted
down two bond issues for redesigning the middle school
(in 1995 and 1996), but finally supported a renovation
bond in January 2000, which added, among other changes,
plans for an auditorium.
Originally due to open in the
fall of 2002, the auditorium was delayed more than a
year because of problems with the original contractor. The
current
contractor, who came aboard in 2003, was racing to finish
the job by this fall (See: Hommocks
Auditorium: A Few Weeks From Completion.)
Ronda Lustman, former School Board President, remarked that “although
as a parent, I was frustrated by the failure of the earlier
bonds, I believe that the beautiful and functional addition
we have today is the result of the focused vision of the
educational needs of our middle school that has been realized
in the final design.”
For the audience sitting in the auditorium, Tuesday night
was the opening of a grand new facility, which Dr. Weitzman
encouraged the community to use and enjoy; for the district
it was the long-awaited culmination of 13 years of planning,
designing and construction.
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