Second SGS Ribbon Cutting Celebrates End Of Renovations

School district officials take part in the ribbon cutting Nov. 2 at Sampson G. Smith School.

A blue ribbon celebrating the end of a construction project was cut for the second time in two days Nov. 2 at Sampson G. Smith School.

This time, the celebration was for the completion of multi-million dollar construction to the school, including renovations to three science labs, creation of a second gym, locker room renovations and new office space.

The work was part of the $84 million “One Less Move” referendum passed in December 2014, which will result in a new elementary school, renovations to the district’s elementary schools, and a realignment of grades in the district.

That realignment will result in two middle schools for the district, the current Franklin Middle School and SGS. Some of the work at Sampson was designed to make the school more middle school-appropriate, said schools Superintendent John Ravally.

Included in the science area renovations was the creation of a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) lab, Ravally said.

The second gym, Ravally said, “is full size, winch makes it a middle school-appropriate gymnasium, so we can host middle school games when the middle schoolers come; the locker rooms were renovated because kids will now be changing, as they do in middle school.”

The project also included building of a guidance suite and a child study suite of offices, Ravally said. The entrance was also changed, with the addition of a vestibule where visitors must sign in, he said.

In a short ceremony before the ribbon cutting, Ravally, SGS principal Evelyn Rutledge and Board of Education president Ed Potosnak offered thanks to various groups and people.

Ravally said that the school did not lose any instructional days during the construction, which, he said, “takes a lot of effort, that takes a lot of time, that takes a lot of dedication,” and which he attributed to Rutledge.

“You can’t always expect that your room is the way its was when you left it, you can’t always expect that the schedule is going to be to the minute exactly what it needs to be, and sometimes it requires some flexibility, flexibility from the leadership, and flexibility from the teachers,” he said. “I couldn’t be more pleased and more proud to say that our teachers did a wonderful job with that. They were not only flexible,  but they were supportive and they were helpful. You don’t always have that relationship, but we’re really fortunate to have that relationship with the FTEA and our teachers.”

Potosnak said he and the school board were proud the of the additions, and “so incredibly grateful to the community for supporting the referendum. On behalf of the board, I want to thank the administration, the teachers, the faculty, and most importantly, we’re excited for our students who are going to be the beneficiaries of these high-quality facilities where they can build on the excellent education they receive from our teachers and make the world a better place.”

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