CVSD celebrates new North Pines Middle School
The new North Pines Middle School is open for business as staff and teachers prepare for the start of school next week, the smell of new paint still hanging in the air.
The school at 11900 E. Broadway Ave. was built directly behind the old North Pines Middle School at 701 N. Pines Road, which is in the process of being torn down. The site of the old school will be turned into a linear park along Pines Road and a baseball field, tennis courts and parking.
Pictures of Ponderosa Pines adorn its walls as people walk down the hallways named after local colleges and universities – Gonzaga Boulevard, WSU Avenue, Eastern Expressway, Community College Court.
The Central Valley School District named the hallways because they want to plant the seeds of college attendance, said district spokeswoman Marla Nunberg. “It’s to encourage them to pathways to success,” she said.
Much of the new school is simply a vast improvement over the old one, which was built in 1948 and suffered from a malfunctioning HVAC system, among other issues. There are a lot of large windows, working air conditioning and a gym that isn’t small and cramped. The gym is so big, in fact, that it can be divided into two if necessary.
There are lockers for musical instruments in the hallway next to the band room, which is located at the end of Whitworth Way. The choir room next door has a soundproofed practice room.
The estimated cost of the building was $29.9 million, which was paid for by a construction bond approved by voters in 2015.
Michele Nicholson teaches seventh grade language arts and history. She was in her classroom preparing for the first day of school recently while praising the cool temperature. The high temperatures often experienced in the old school distracted students and made them lose their focus, she said.
“The kids are going to be able to learn in here,” she said. “It’s going to be wonderful.”
She was also pleased to see a large amount of storage in her new room. “It’s out of the way, it’s out of sight, it’s not cluttered,” she said. “We’re glad to be here.”
Like all new schools, the front entry is secured. Visitors must go into the office before being allowed access inside through a locked door. Large windows offer excellent visibility of the front circular driveway and parking lot.
The school also has a community room for after-school activities that will be available for the public to reserve in the evenings.
The library sits on the northwest corner of the second floor and boasts floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides. Librarian Theresa Stone likes all the natural light, which was virtually nonexistent in her old library with its tiny windows.
“I could look at the sky,” she said. “They were seven feet up, only 19 inches tall.”
A couple of plush chairs form a reading nook in one corner. There are also tables for students and tables that can be used for staff meetings. “This is wonderful,” Stone said. “We can’t wait to see a snowstorm, it’s so high up.”