Arlington PreK-8 students started the fall semester about a mile from their old school in a renovated building replete with some of the newest technology in Pittsburgh Public Schools.
By the end of week two, Arlington principal Holly Ballard declared that the move and a series of other careful choices have resulted in fewer discipline problems and a less frenetic environment at the former Philip Murray elementary, where all students now wear uniforms and attend class in one building.
“I just don’t see the behavior that we used to see. We still have issues, don’t get me wrong. But it was daily. I could never talk to you for five minutes,” she said. “I think it was just the perfect storm for once — the perfect storm, in a good way.”
Renovating the former Murray elementary in Mount Oliver, which closed in 2011 amid enrollment decline, began with demolition in December and was expected to cost $13.7 million. Chief operations officer Ron Joseph said the district doesn’t have the final figure yet. At 78,000 square feet, the structure is larger than the combined 72,000 square feet in the two former Arlington buildings across the street from each other. One was for preK-2 and the other for 3-8.
“It doesn’t take someone in education to realize when you combine two buildings into one, it’s more efficient,” said Cynthia Falls, a District 7 school board member, who praised the move and said she has been at the school a couple of times since it opened.
Installing the technology at the new Arlington would have proved difficult had contractors been forced to retrofit upgrades to the old space, said Scott Gutowski, the district’s chief of information and technology. Instead, a year’s worth of planning went into the building, which was gutted and redesigned. Renovations also included a roof replacement, new windows and flooring, new electrical and lighting systems and air conditioning.
All classrooms now have smart boards and are amplified by hanging speakers. Teachers wear a lapel microphone and allow students to use a handheld mic during discussion. Two Greenfield PreK-8 teachers piloted that technology last year.
“Schools are traditionally loud places … and the way to combat loudness is not more loudness,” Mr. Gutowski said. “Just that subtle amplification does give voice to the shy student or the new student, and, I think, does calm the teacher’s delivery. … The fact that we can contribute a bunch of incremental things that calm an environment is certainly telling.”
Some of the new technology features that might be standard in other schools were ones Arlington had gone without.
“We went from the worst to the best. From the heat in the building to computers being old and not working — just everything,” said Ms. Ballard, who’s in her third year as Arlington principal and started her career there when it was a K-5 school. She acknowledged that it’s early into the school year but maintained that “it’s just a totally different feel.”
Molly Born: mborn@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1944 or on Twitter @molly_born.
First Published: September 19, 2016, 4:12 a.m.
Updated: September 19, 2016, 4:26 a.m.