A peek inside the new Millstone middle school Opening of facility will impact school taxes this year BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer SCOTT PILLING staff Construction manager Bill Skillman stands in front of the cooling system at the new middle school, which is being constructed off Waters Lane in Millstone Township. With 80 percent of construction finished, Millstone Township's new middle school is nearing completion. Scheduled to open its doors this fall, the 138,562-square-foot school boasts 30 classrooms including six science labs, a state-of-the art media center with a computer lab and a television studio, two gymnasiums, a food court-like cafeteria and a 15,808-square-foot auditorium. Voters passed the $34.5 million school referendum that included the construction of the new school in March 2004. The structure, which has been under construction since June 6, 2005, is now 100 percent closed in with all the windows and doors installed, according to construction manager Bill Skillman, of Hill International in Marlton. Construction crews are now working on the inside of the school and will start putting up the ceiling soon, but they first must deal with the exposed red, blue and white arteries of what will ultimately become the school's telecommunications system. The wires will hold computer, cable and telephone data, Skillman said, as well as operate the fire alarm and security system. PHOTOS BYSCOTT PILLING staff Above: A circular drive leads up to the new Millstone middle school taking shape off Waters Lane in Millstone Township. At right: A look inside the media center still under construction. Once the school is wired, according to Skillman, the construction crews plan to start painting parts of the auditorium black, a color commonly used in theaters, and doing the mechanical preparation of the duct work. "So far we're ahead of schedule," Skillman said, adding that at the height of construction in the summer, 140 workers were at the site on a daily basis. "There have been little glitches, but nothing has been showstopping for us," he said. The only thing that could now interfere with the school's opening is obtaining a septic approval for the site from the state of New Jersey. The school district is about 30 days away from getting that approval, according to Skillman. Those entering the beige-paneled and reddish-stone building that is reminiscent of farm architecture in some ways will do so through a two-story clock tower affixed with a 4-foot-tall wooden time piece in the academic wing of the building. Students, staff and visitors are greeted by gray and white hallways and Terricon floors set with ground stone that gives off tints of blue and gray and also contains clear glass and mirrored pieces that reflect light. The media center, which Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Donahue finds to be one of the school's most striking features, is to the left of the main entrance and main office. "We will finally have a library appropriate for a middle school with the correct number of shelves and a television studio for future use," Donahue said. The media center has high ceilings and skylights that let in natural lighting. Windows in the television production room and information technology (IT) room look down over the media center from the second floor, as do openings in the hallways that students will use on the second floor. Every classroom will have windows that allow natural light into the building. Each class will be equipped with four computer stations. They also have radiant panels for taking the chill off outside walls in the winter when the school is using its forced hot-air heating system. The academic wing, which will have three separate areas for the three different grades that will use the building, is apart from the community wing. A hallway containing special needs and guidance offices creates a division between the two wings that can be closed off when community and cultural events are taking place in the gyms and/or auditorium. Just past the guidance offices, doors open to the cafeteria on the left. Donahue said that the current middle school often has to put students on a stage in the lunchroom due to lack of space but that the new cafeteria will house students appropriately. PHOTOS BYSCOTT PILLING staff Above: Construction manager Bill Skillman, of Hill International in Marlton, gives a tour of the new middle school being constructed off Waters Lane in Millstone Township. At left: The auditorium and the 400-vehicle parking lot are just beyond the circular drive at the school's entrance. The new cafeteria will consist of three different serving stations, with sections for salad and both hot and cold foods. Middle school students will use "debit cards" for their lunches, which will enable parents to keep track of their children's purchases. The cards can even be programmed to not allow students to buy certain items, according to Louise San Nicola, the school district's public information officer. A grassy area located outside between the cafeteria and the academic portion of the school could ultimately become a courtyard with tables for lunch or art projects, according to Skillman. The music rooms, which the school's jazz ensemble and chorus will use, are in front of the cafeteria in a hallway located in the auditorium behind the stage. The rooms have high ceilings and acoustically treated walls that sound cannot penetrate through. In addition, the band room will have bleachers installed for band practice, he said. Skillman noted that the $3.1 million auditorium is "one of the school's highlights," though not just for its size. "The amount of sound and theater equipment being purchased is very impressive," he said. The auditorium will have a cloud system, which Skillman described as an acoustic system of baffles that hang down from the ceiling at different levels to stop the travel of sound and to deaden noise. "The sound quality will be like that on Broadway or in Madison Square Garden," he said. The high ceiling above the stage will allow for the use of five separate scene drops that will operate by remote control. At one end of the stage, there is a metal garage door that opens to the outside and can be used for vehicles or large props that have to enter the stage. At both ends of the stage, there is a second-story lighting gallery with a ship's ladder, giving production assistants access to the catwalk that will house lighting along with sound fixtures, which will be operated from a booth on the auditorium floor. The orchestra level of the floor of the auditorium has a rise to it. Behind the sound and lighting booth, there are additional rows of seating that will be placed on concrete steps. "All the seating is like that in a movie theater," Skillman said. Next to the auditorium are the two gyms, which have boys' and girls' locker rooms equipped with showers in the middle of them. The school decided on creating two gyms of the same size, mainly to give students space and keep them safe, Donahue said. In the current middle school, multiple gym classes often have to share the same gym, which causes crowding. Donahue also explained that the new school will provide more facilities for the community to use. She said current school facilities often remain open until 11 p.m. on most nights, as they are used by various community organizations. Just outside the entrance to the gyms and the auditorium are a 400-vehicle parking lot and the school district's administrative offices. Although the new offices will not take up much more room than the current administration facility on Schoolhouse Lane, Donahue said the new offices will all be located on the same level, which she believes will improve communication among the various administrative departments. "We will no longer have offices in the basement," Donahue said. "We will also have adequate storage facilities and a conference room so we can have meetings at the board offices. We will also have adequate parking." The school district's superintendent, business administrator, secretarial staff, director of curriculum, and payroll and accounts payable employees will all move to the new 3,065-square-foot board office suite at the new middle school. The current Board of Education building, which has two floors, will remain in use. The top level will be used as the district's transportation and buildings and grounds offices. The lower level will be used for record retention, which will help the school district get some its records out of storage. There is a separate entrance altogether for the board offices and the community wing. Although the school district was going to opt for "Exit Only" doors around its entire perimeter except for the front of the building, it may opt for entrance/exit doors in the bus drop-off area and possibly in the cafeteria where the doors could ultimately open up to a courtyard, Skillman said. "It makes sense not just for fire drills," he said, "because students would have to walk all the way around the building to the front to get back in." All school traffic will flow onto school grounds from Baird Road. There will be a separate entrance off Baird Road onto the school site for buses, which will drop off students to the left of the main circular drive, which Skillman calls "the kiss and drop-off area." Donahue said that above all else, the school will provide the district with the extra space it greatly needs for proper instruction. According to Donahue, the opening of the new school will reduce class sizes. The average class size will be about 23 students per class, she said, while some classes in the current middle school have 28 students each. The school district also has teachers working off movable carts and others using substandard teaching facilities such as the library alcove and offices as classrooms. The new space will provide all teachers with their own classrooms, according to Donahue. Some of the school's design elements required some forward thinking to be implemented but should pay off in the end, according to Donahue. The back of the building houses an ice storage area that will cool water for air-conditioning in the summer. The system will generate ice at night, when electricity is cheaper, and then use the ice to cool the water for air-conditioning. The heating/cooling system was designed to save taxpayers money in the long run, and because of the way the school is being wired for telecommunications, the wiring shouldn't have to be redone any time in the near future, according to Donahue. Even the design of the cafeteria's kitchen will serve as a cost-savings device because the refrigerators were placed on the outside walls, she said, which will decrease energy costs. To furnish the new school, the district will use a lot of the furniture it currently has at its other facilities, according to Donahue. "Not everything will be new," Donahue said. The opening of the new middle school will have an impact on the next budget, which will go before voters at the Board of Education elections in April, according to Donahue. Donahue said she could not speculate yet as to how much of an increase the school district would need to begin operating the new school. "I have decided not to hire a full administrative team," Donahue said. The existing middle school administration will move from the current middle school to the new building, she said. The exiting elementary school principal and assistant principal will either stay at the existing elementary school to look after grades prekindergarten to second or move to the existing middle school to tend to grades kindergarten through third. A new principal will be needed for either prekindergarten to second grade or grades third to fifth, but Donahue said she will not look to hire another assistant principal. Donahue said new costs will also entail having to hire additional custodial staff, an extra grounds person and another maintenance person for two shifts. New expenditures will come as well as a result of just operating the building, she said, as the district will have to pay for electricity, energy costs, etc. Donahue said the community should start hearing more information regarding the new budget in March. She said taxpayers should support the next budget "for the education of the children." "We're doing extremely well as exhibited by our test scores," Donahue said. "We would like to keep that caliber up, and we would like to keep class sizes down." The new school is set to open for students before the school district holds an official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project. The district has yet to make its 2007-08 school calendar, but school should begin the week after Labor Day, Donahue said. Seeing the project come to fruition has been exciting for the new superintendent, who worked as the assistant superintendent of curriculum last year, before Superintendent William Setaro left the district. "I've been here through the entire process," Donahue said. "Each week, I am at the site with a hard hat and boots on ... going through the building and seeing the progress. "It's a beautiful building," she added, "and I'm so excited for the students and the community. They really deserve it." the school's most striking features, is to the left of the main entrance and main office. "We will finally have a library appropriate for a middle school with the correct number of shelves and a television studio for future use," Donahue said. The media center has high ceilings and skylights that let in natural lighting. Windows in the television production room and information technology (IT) room look down over the media center from the second floor, as do openings in the hallways that students will use on the second floor. Every classroom will have windows that allow natural light into the building. Each class will be equipped with four computer stations. They also have radiant panels for taking the chill off outside walls in the winter when the school is using its forced hot-air heating system. The academic wing, which will have three separate areas for the three different grades that will use the building, is apart from the community wing. A hallway containing special needs and guidance offices creates a division between the two wings that can be closed off when community and cultural events are taking place in the gyms and/or auditorium. Just past the guidance offices, doors open to the cafeteria on the left. Donahue said that the current middle school often has to put students on a stage in the lunchroom due to lack of space but that the new cafeteria will house students appropriately. The new cafeteria will consist of three different serving stations, with sections for salad and both hot and cold foods. Middle school students will use "debit cards" for their lunches, which will enable parents to keep track of their children's purchases. The cards can even be programmed to not allow students to buy certain items, according to Louise San Nicola, the school district's public information officer. A grassy area located outside between the cafeteria and the academic portion of the school could ultimately become a courtyard with tables for lunch or art projects, according to Skillman. The music rooms, which the school's jazz ensemble and chorus will use, are in front of the cafeteria in a hallway located in the auditorium behind the stage. The rooms have high ceilings and acoustically treated walls that sound cannot penetrate through. In addition, the band room will have bleachers installed for band practice, he said. Skillman noted that the $3.1 million auditorium is "one of the school's highlights," though not just for its size. "The amount of sound and theater equipment being purchased is very impressive," he said. The auditorium will have a cloud system, which Skillman described as an acoustic system of baffles that hang down from the ceiling at different levels to stop the travel of sound and to deaden noise. "The sound quality will be like that on Broadway or in Madison Square Garden," he said. The high ceiling above the stage will allow for the use of five separate scene drops that will operate by remote control. At one end of the stage, there is a metal garage door that opens to the outside and can be used for vehicles or large props that have to enter the stage. At both ends of the stage, there is a second-story lighting gallery with a ship's ladder, giving production assistants access to the catwalk that will house lighting along with sound fixtures, which will be operated from a booth on the auditorium floor. The orchestra level of the floor of the auditorium has a rise to it. Behind the sound and lighting booth, there are additional rows of seating that will be placed on concrete steps. "All the seating is like that in a movie theater," Skillman said. Next to the auditorium are the two gyms, which have boys' and girls' locker rooms equipped with showers in the middle of them. The school decided on creating two gyms of the same size, mainly to give students space and keep them safe, Donahue said. In the current middle school, multiple gym classes often have to share the same gym, which causes crowding. Donahue also explained that the new school will provide more facilities for the community to use. She said current school facilities often remain open until 11 p.m. on most nights, as they are used by various community organizations. Just outside the entrance to the gyms and the auditorium are a 400-vehicle parking lot and the school district's administrative offices. Although the new offices will not take up much more room than the current administration facility on Schoolhouse Lane, Donahue said the new offices will all be located on the same level, which she believes will improve communication among the various administrative departments. "We will no longer have offices in the basement," Donahue said. "We will also have adequate storage facilities and a conference room so we can have meetings at the board offices. We will also have adequate parking." The school district's superintendent, business administrator, secretarial staff, director of curriculum, and payroll and accounts payable employees will all move to the new 3,065-square-foot board office suite at the new middle school. The current Board of Education building, which has two floors, will remain in use. The top level will be used as the district's transportation and buildings and grounds offices. The lower level will be used for record retention, which will help the school district get some its records out of storage. There is a separate entrance altogether for the board offices and the community wing. Although the school district was going to opt for "Exit Only" doors around its entire perimeter except for the front of the building, it may opt for entrance/exit doors in the bus drop-off area and possibly in the cafeteria where the doors could ultimately open up to a courtyard, Skillman said. "It makes sense not just for fire drills," he said, "because students would have to walk all the way around the building to the front to get back in." All school traffic will flow onto school grounds from Baird Road. There will be a separate entrance off Baird Road onto the school site for buses, which will drop off students to the left of the main circular drive, which Skillman calls "the kiss and drop-off area." Donahue said that above all else, the school will provide the district with the extra space it greatly needs for proper instruction. According to Donahue, the opening of the new school will reduce class sizes. The average class size will be about 23 students per class, she said, while some classes in the current middle school have 28 students each. The school district also has teachers working off movable carts and others using substandard teaching facilities such as the library alcove and offices as classrooms. The new space will provide all teachers with their own classrooms, according to Donahue. Some of the school's design elements required some forward thinking to be implemented but should pay off in the end, according to Donahue. The back of the building houses an ice storage area that will cool water for air-conditioning in the summer. The system will generate ice at night, when electricity is cheaper, and then use the ice to cool the water for air-conditioning. The heating/cooling system was designed to save taxpayers money in the long run, and because of the way the school is being wired for telecommunications, the wiring shouldn't have to be redone any time in the near future, according to Donahue. Even the design of the cafeteria's kitchen will serve as a cost-savings device because the refrigerators were placed on the outside walls, she said, which will decrease energy costs. To furnish the new school, the district will use a lot of the furniture it currently has at its other facilities, according to Donahue. "Not everything will be new," Donahue said. The opening of the new middle school will have an impact on the next budget, which will go before voters at the Board of Education elections in April, according to Donahue. Donahue said she could not speculate yet as to how much of an increase the school district would need to begin operating the new school. "I have decided not to hire a full administrative team," Donahue said. The existing middle school administration will move from the current middle school to the new building, she said. The existing elementary school principal and assistant principal will either stay at the existing elementary school to look after grades prekindergarten to second or move to the existing middle school to tend to grades kindergarten through third. A new principal will be needed for either prekindergarten to second grade or grades third to fifth, but Donahue said she will not look to hire another assistant principal. Donahue said new costs will also entail having to hire additional custodial staff, an extra grounds person and another maintenance person for two shifts. New expenditures will come as well as a result of just operating the building, she said, as the district will have to pay for electricity, energy costs, etc. Donahue said the community should start hearing more information regarding the new budget in March. She said taxpayers should support the next budget "for the education of the children." "We're doing extremely well as exhibited by our test scores," Donahue said. "We would like to keep that caliber up, and we would like to keep class sizes down." The new school is set to open for students before the school district holds an official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project. The district has yet to make its 2007-08 school calendar, but school should begin the week after Labor Day, Donahue said. Seeing the project come to fruition has been exciting for the new superintendent, who worked as the assistant superintendent of curriculum last year, before Superintendent William Setaro left the district. "I've been here through the entire process," Donahue said. "Each week, I am at the site with a hard hat and boots on ... going through the building and seeing the progress. "It's a beautiful building," she added, "and I'm so excited for the students and the community. They really deserve it.