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Proposal pushes $44 million into new, current middle school

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By Kyle McCaskey

In Derby Public Schools’ $67 million bond proposal, roughly $44 million will go toward middle school enhancements.

Included is a new middle school, priced at $32.5 million. At the existing middle school, $11.2 million in improvements are planned. 

Derby will operate both middle schools as sixth, seventh and eighth grade facilities. The current Sixth Grade Center will be demolished and the plot of land would be left vacant, but still under district ownership, said Superintendent Craig Wilford.

The current middle school, built in the late 1950s, would get a potential facelift to cover several concerns.

“We heard some strong feedback at the middle school level about infrastructure needs,” Wilford said. “There are some aesthetic things, but there are also some real structural things relative to heating and cooling and electrical that we want to make sure we get updated.”

Tom Snodgrass, director of operations, said replacing leaking domestic water lines would be a significant portion of the cost. In the past three years, the district began a program to replace the lines, but that project is only 15 percent complete. Snodgrass said the fixes cannot be made fast enough with current available funds.

Flooring, lighting and paint schemes would also be revamped. Electrical upgrades will be made to bring the building up to the needs of a 21st century classroom.

“At that time, when they built schoolhouses, they didn’t have a very good picture of what technology would look like in 2012,” Snodgrass said. “They wired those rooms for what they thought would be needed. They just didn’t think much would be needed, I suppose.”

A new addition to the building will bring 10 new classrooms to accommodate sixth graders. Both the new and current middle school will structure the building to keep grade levels apart.

“Definitely, the intent here is to have separation between the sixth graders and the seventh and eighth graders,” Snodgrass said.

Portable buildings currently used to defray the lack of classroom space at the middle school will be sold or demolished. Both options have been used in the past, Snodgrass said.
While no specific site has been approved for the construction of a new middle school, it is likely headed to an 80-acre plot north of 63rd Street and to the east of Rock Road.
“It is the only piece of property that we currently own that would handle that facility. In all likelihood, that is the most obvious choice at this point, but we’ll take board approval to determine the exact location,” Wilford said. “I think it’d be an excellent location for a middle school.”
Wilford does not anticipate the need to hire much extra staff for the new building. Teachers may shift from the Sixth Grade Center as well as the current middle school, since there is not an increase of students.
Wilford also does not foresee a jump in utility costs.  “My hope would be that we would not see a big increase,” he said. “My hope would be that a newer facility would be much more energy efficient than the current building that we’re utilizing, thus potentially saving us some funds.” 

User Comments

  • comment

    "I beleive it would be a better palin to use the old middle school for the administration offices for the school district."

    Posted by chad Parker on Feb. 22, 2012

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