With rousing cheers and a few joyous tears Canyons District on Monday, Aug. 13, 2012 celebrated the pending opening of the new Midvale Elementary School.
With the snip of 36-inch, red-handled shears, members of the Canyons Board of Education, administrators, teachers, parents and dozens of Midvale Mustangs cut the red ribbon to mark the completion of the 85,000-square-foot school.
The occasion was one of celebration and anticipation. An emotional Midvale Mayor JoAnn Seghini recounted the long wait for a Board of Education with a listening ear and a plan of action to bring needed building upgrades to the community.
The new Midvale school, which replaces the outdated 61-year-old building on Center Street, is the first construction project completed with funds earned from the $250 million bond approved by voters in 2010.
Mont Millerberg, who represents Midvale on the Canyons Board of Education, emceed the event. The 9 a.m. ceremony drew about 150 community members of all ages, and included honors for Midvale principals past and present.
At the celebration, Canyons Superintendent Dave Doty paid a special tribute to the men and women of Westland Construction who worked so diligently to complete the new elementary in one year. The groundbreaking was Aug. 3, 2011.
“When I took this job four years ago, I held a meeting with all of the teachers at every school to answer questions and outline my priorities for this new district. I distinctly remember my meeting with the Midvale Elementary faculty, at which we spent more than an hour discussing the inferior condition of the school and the faculty’s skepticism that anything would be done to improve it,” Dr. Doty said. “I recall telling the faculty that, while I couldn’t promise an outcome, I could promise my best efforts to make the rebuild of Midvale Elementary the new district’s highest priority.”
The design by NJRA Architects was lauded. “I may be biased but I think this new school is the most beautiful new building in Midvale,” Milllerberg told the audience. All of Utah’s five national parks are subtly depicted in the building design, he said, and the history of Midvale City also is depicted in specific areas of the school.
“Board by board and brick by brick, we have built a school that is as good or better than any other elementary school in the entire state,” Millerberg said. “Our children deserve nothing but the best. As a Board of Education, that’s what we promised and that is exactly what we have delivered.”
The new school, 7852 S. Pioneer St., covers 9 acres of the 25-acre educational campus it shares with Midvale Middle School. It has natural light in rooms and hallways. The school has state-of-the-art classrooms, a large gymnasium and auditorium and more playground space. To the delight of Principal Shad DeMill, the new school will have air conditioning and a new heater for the cold winter months.
Teachers will be able to move into their classrooms next week just in time for the first day of school on Aug. 27.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4fXfG55FRg
