Valley Independent Sentinel

Derby Celebrates New Middle School

by Melvin Mason | Jan 22, 2010 2:27 am

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Posted to: Derby, Education

“Times are tough. Let’s get to work.”

Those were the words of school Superintendent Stephen Tracy, during a ceremony Thursday evening to officially mark the opening of Derby Middle School.

The school opened for business Jan. 4.

Thursday’s event was an official opening, with some 250 people in attendance.

School officials sought new learning space for years to house students in grades six through eight, primarily to alleviate overcrowding at Irving and Bradley elementary schools and the congestion at Derby High School.

The seventh and eighth grade shared a building with the high school —- never a popular fact with parents.

Tracy said students are excited for the new space. There’s even some data to back up that excitement — middle school student attendance increased from 93 percent to 97 percent since the new school opened.

Tracy said the transformation of a Derby High School parking lot into a school building makes for one of happiest moments for education in the Valley. See the video for comments from Tracy and Board of Education Chairman Kenneth Marcucio.

State Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan said the new school should be celebrated by everyone.

“Whenever a building is put into place like this, it truly is a celebration of the community,” he said.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell declared Thursday “Derby Middle School Day” in the state, in honor of the new building.

Mayor Anthony Staffieri said the new middle school is a long overdue modernization of the city’s education facilities.

“It has been constructed to provide our children with the tools that will be needed to compete not only with schools in the Valley, but also in Beijing, China; Toyko, Japan; New Delhi, India; Moscow, Russia and throughout the European Union,” Staffieri said. “This is an awesome task, but a task I believe our educational professionals are fully capable of accomplishing.”

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