WESTBROOK — While students have had time off, it has been a busy summer for Westbrook school staff.

Since school was last in session, two construction projects approved by voters in November 2016 took major steps towards completion, and three new school department heads have been hired.

Twelve new classrooms have been added at Westbrook Middle School and at Saccarappa School. 

“We are so fortunate that was completed in a one-school-year cycle,” said Westbrook Middle School Principal Laurie Wood.

Wood said completion of the project means a quarter of the school’s students will not have to learn in portable classrooms, something that was necessary due to the construction project. It also means each grade level will have its own part of the school: the fifth grade on the first floor, sixth on the second and seventh and eighth grade on the third.

“When you have such a diverse age range in students, it’s good for them to have their own space and it’s better for the teachers,” she said.

The new construction also means staff who had been operating from a cart in available classrooms, including health, Spanish and French teachers, will have  dedicated classrooms of their own.

“It is hard to teach when you don’t have your own room or your own space,” Wood said. “That has been corrected.”

The project also provided space for special education testing or standardized testing.

Superintendent Peter Lancia said a re-dedication and public open house is set to take place sometime in October.

“When you walk in the building, it seems like it was always there,” Lancia said of the new classroom spaces. “When you look at the outside of the building, it seems like it was always there. It’s seamless. That was our goal. We didn’t want it too look like, this is what happened in 2010 and this is what happened in 2018.”

While the project is substantially complete, there are a few last-minute items, including counter tops and furniture that have yet to be delivered to the school. The improvement of the geothermal system at the middle school will get tackled this fall.

At Saccarappa School, work to build 55,000 square feet of new space is moving along well, Principal Brian Mazjanis said Tuesday.

Third- and fourth-grade students and some second-graders will start the school year in new educational spaces, after seven classroom in the 1953 section of the school were renovated over the summer.

“They have been great to work with,” Mazjanis said of the workers from Arthur Dudley, the contractor for the project. “They have kept a tight schedule and have worked really well with use. It’s been fun to watch for both staff and students.”

The main entrance won’t change until after December vacation when the new part of the school will be complete and will begin to be used. Renovations then will begin on older space and will continue through the  summer 2019. Progress can be tracked at wsdgrows.org.

The project, Lancia said, recently had a hiccup when the tile was being replaced in the 1953 wing and the concrete slab underneath,  original to the school, was “in need of extensive repair.” That unexpected surprise has been taken care of and didn’t delay the schedule or budget, Lancia said.

“Especially with renovating an old school, or old section of a building, surprises are always going to be there,” he said.

A construction project is also wrapping up at the high school. Last spring, the school received a grant from the Cornelia Warren Association to fund a new weight room in the seldom-used balcony above the gymnasium. Lancia said the other part of the balcony will be outfitted with turf and be available for sports teams. The new balcony spaces will also be available to students and staff and be used by physical education classes.

Since school was last in session, three new department heads have been hired: Blair Marelli for athletics/activities, Martha Sumner in human resources and Mary Emerson in the nutrition department.

In terms of new academic offerings, Mazjanis said for the first time this school year, students at Saccarappa, as well as Canal and Congin schools, will get dedicated time once a week for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) instruction, a new initiative built into this year’s school budget. The idea, he said, is to connect with STEAM curriculum launched last year at the middle school.

“I think students will really rave about the new STEAM classes because they will be experimental, hands-on and exploratory and that’s the way scientific learning should be for young learners,” he said.

A new approach to reading and writing instruction is being expanded to the middle school after being launched in the elementary grades over the last few years.

“We want kids to read a lot and write a lot and have choice and ownership of their reading and writing,” Lancia said.

The new school year, Lancia said, also brings with it a renewed focus on the social and emotional wellbeing of students.

“We have focused on the academic development of our students and now we want to really focus on the social and emotional development of our students. That will be an ongoing project we have going on district wide,” Lancia said.

To that end, Wood said middle school students and staff this year will also see a continuation of the “restorative school practices” approach to discipline, an approach piloted last school year.

“We have seen positive results,” Wood said.

Through the approach, she said, each class is treated as a community and those who are having behavioral challenges and are being disruptive are encouraged to think how their behavior if impacting not just them, but their entire learning community. Instead of sitting in the principal’s office, students, in most cases, are sent to a student liaison, who works with the students to find a positive avenue to address the issue, such as talking face to face other students who may have been involved, writing a letter to apology or community service work around the school.

“Middle school is when  students start thinking negatively about school. This allows us to maintain those positive relationships between students and adult so kids can remain positive,” she said.

The 2018-2019 school year, Lancia said, will also mean a reinvigorated focus on parent engagement at the middle school, especially in terms of immigrant and refugee families. Wood said the PTO, which had been dormant for a few years, was has been relaunched, met for the first time earlier this week and is looking for additional parents to join.

Michael Kelley can be reached at 781-3661 x 125 or [email protected] or on Twitter @mkelleynews.

Start dates & open houses
The 2018-2019 school year begins Wednesday, Aug. 29, for students in grades one through nine. The first day of school for sophomores, juniors and seniors and students at Westbrook Regional Vocational Center is Thursday, Aug. 30. Kindergarten students start Tuesday, Sept. 4, and pre-kindergartners on Monday, Sept. 10. 

Open houses for Canal and Congin families to meet teachers and see their child’s classroom will take place Monday, Aug. 27, at 5:30 p.m. An open house for in-coming fifth-graders is Tuesday, Aug. 28, at 5:30 p.m. at the middle school. Open houses will be held Thursday, Sept. 6, at Saccarappa, Tuesday, Sept. 11, at Westbrook High School/Westbrook Regional Vocation Center and Thursday, Sept. 13, at the middle school for those going into sixth, seventh and eighth grade.

The new wing of Westbrook Middle School will provide new classrooms for students, as well as dedicated teaching spaces for health, Spanish and French teachers.

The entrance to Saccarappa School will remain for the first half of the 2018-2019 school year while the new section of the school is still under construction. After December break, the main entrance will switch to the new school space while the existing school gets renovated.

In a true sign of summer break coming to an end, members of the Westbrook High School marching band prepare Tuesday for the upcoming season.