New Wing Opens at Mamaroneck Avenue School

by Joan R. Simon

Visitors are welcomed to the new wing of the Mamaroneck Avenue School.

(September 7, 2006) With custodial staffs from all of the schools in the district working feverishly at the end of the summer, the new addition and other renovations at Mamaroneck Avenue School were complete by the start of school on Wednesday, September 5th. The $8.1 million project was funded primarily by the $49.7 million construction bond passed in 2001. Work began at the end of the school year in June, 2005 (see: Mamaroneck Ave. School Breaks Ground on Expansion Project and Mamaroneck Avenue School Work Underway.)

The new building provides 10 classrooms, five on each floor, as well as several smaller instructional, utility and resource areas. It has an elevator and is wheelchair accessible. Each of the five kindergarten rooms on the first floor is 1000 square feet, with a sink and work station, a bathroom, and a storage room, as well as multiple activity areas. The second floor rooms, which are primarily for 1 st graders, are 880 square feet and are similarly appointed. Classes in K to 2 at MAS have 17 or fewer children.

Board members Janet Buchbinder, Celia Absher and Linnet Tse tour one of the new 1000 square foot classrooms at Mamaroneck Avenue School.

The additional classrooms have made possible other major changes within the school. The Pre-K program has moved from the basement to newly renovated rooms on the first floor of the front building on Mamaroneck Avenue. Two new lunchrooms have been carved out of former Pre-K and kindergarten classrooms: the “Picasso lunchroom” for K-2 and a separate one for grades 3 – 5. Previously, the all-purpose room served the school as the only cafeteria and auditorium, as well as one of two gyms. Principal Carrie Amon noted that while the all-purpose room had one less “purpose,” it can now be used for book fairs, science fairs and other school-wide events.

The principal’s office is now located across from the All Purpose Room, closer to the new main entrance which is on Ralph Avenue. The only door that will remain open while school is in session is on Gertrude Avenue, adjacent to the library.

While many finishing touches still need to be completed – such as the over-sized fish tank in the entrance hall to the new addition – the school will hold a Grand Opening Celebration Picnic on September 13 at 6 pm. Other renovations, including upper floor connections between the two original buildings, will be part of the next 5-year capital plan, which is currently being worked on.

Not all the additions were inside. A new playground is ready for the start of school.

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