Earhart Environmental Magnet breaks ground on a new building
Rain moved the festivities inside, but that didn’t stop Earhart Environmental Magnet Elementary from celebrating the start of construction on a brand new building on May 15. The groundbreaking ceremony marked the beginning of the final project of the district’s $284.5 million bond issue. Principal Marvin Foxx, Superintendent Winston Brooks, Board of Education Vice President Lynn Rogers and BOE member, and former Earhart teacher, Connie Dietz, architect Kenton Cox and student ambassadors participated in the groundbreaking celebration.

“This will be a fantastic school that the whole community can be proud of,” Superintendent Brooks said. “Students, staff and parents deserve facilities that are state-of-the art. We as a community have left a legacy for our children with this bond issue.”

Brooks Magnet Middle School Leadership Cadets presented the colors at the beginning of the ceremony. Earhart student ambassadors participated in the celebration and music was provided by Earhart’s Bucket Brigade. At the end of the dedication, Board of Education members, Superintendent Brooks and students took shovels and officially “broke ground.”  They used a trough filled with dirt in the school’s multipurpose room since the activities were moved inside because of the rain.

The $8.3 million, environmentally conscious school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2008. The 60,400 square foot facility will be built to hold 450 students and will feature an environmental lab, library with a computer room, two music rooms, an art room, cafeteria, parent involvement center and a multipurpose room that will also be a FEMA tornado safe room. To coincide with the environmental magnet theme, the school will have large windows for natural lighting, have preferred parking for fuel efficient vehicles, recycling alcoves in the school, a neighborhood recycling center, an outdoor courtyard and will retain rain water on site.

The new school will be built on the same property. After the new school is complete, the original school will be demolished to make room for parking and more outdoor learning opportunities.

Photo caption: Board of Education members Connie Dietz and Lynn Rogers help Earhart students dig dirt as part of the school’s groundbreaking ceremony. Photo by Susan Arensman