New Newton-Conover Middle is second green school for county

Although the new Newton-Conover Middle School is still about five months from completion, several of its environmentally green elements are already obvious as its construction progresses.

The new school will be the second environmentally green school in the county — Snow Creek Elementary was the first. Newton-Conover City Schools is aiming for platinum level LEED certification with the new middle school. The US Green Building Council has a rating system to determine green buildings.

The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system has several levels, with platinum the highest for the most environmentally green elements in the design. If Newton-Conover Middle remains on track for platinum status, it will be the first school in the state to do so, said system Superintendent Barry Redmond.

The new school will have several elements designed to not only be better for the environment, but to also enhance students’ and the staff’s use of the school, compared to the current building they’re in, which is the oldest facility in the system and was built in 1976. The new school is at the intersection of County Home Road and Northern Drive in Conover, about two miles north of the current school.

There are windows cut strategically throughout the building, to give the building natural light. The school’s media center is situated on the second floor at the end of a hallway so it can be opened when the rest of the school is locked, allowing the community access to it, Redmond said. Like much of the rest of the school, it has large windows. Even on a cold winter day with the room only partially finished, it feels bright inside.

The new middle school features green efforts that students likely won’t even notice, like energy-efficient windows, low-flow toilets, solar panels, automatic light sensors and a concrete parking lot for buses, so heat won’t build up, said Allen Kirby, construction coordinator for Newton-Conover City Schools.

Although the new, $20.8 million middle school is based on designs from Grandview Middle, saving Newton-Conover City Schools design fees, there are subtle changes throughout, said Kirby, who serves both Hickory and Newton-Conover school systems.

He opted to change the frames around the windows from wood to metal. The auditorium on the lower level will seat 429 students, an increase in the size from Grandview, which seats about 350. And the art room on the third floor was given a patio, where students can go outside to work, looking out at some of the school’s athletic fields. The art department will also have a kiln, something it doesn’t currently have.

“I think it’s going to be great for the community and the teachers will love it,” said Betty Coulter, member of the board of education.

Construction on the new middle school is about a month behind schedule, Kirby said. Officials hoped it would be finished by April 20. The new completion date is the end of May. School will begin in the fall 2012 school year, and Kirby said he thought students and staff would be “tickled” with the building.

Sixth grade will be on the second floor, which will be the main floor with administration, parent drop-off area and school check-in. Seventh grade classrooms will be on the bottom level where buses drop off students. Eighth graders will be on the third floor. The school is built for 650 students, with 11 classrooms per grade.

The new school will have football, baseball, softball and soccer fields sewn with Kentucky bluegrass to reduce the amount of water needed, Kirby said. There will be a walking trail the school and public can use, and a concession stand built by the high school masonry class.

“I’m super excited about the school,” said Erin Sigmon, an exceptional children’s teacher at Newton-Conover Middle School. “There’s lots of anxiousness about the new processes of a new facility, but it will be a morale booster with the community. I’m a Newton-Conover grad, and it’s the first new building I can remember opening.”

Her coworker, Kathy Clarke, teaches eighth grade social studies. She, too, is excited about being in a new building.

“It’s hard for me to imagine what it will be like to walk down the halls with brand new things,” she said.

When students and staff move out of the current Newton-Conover Middle School in June on West 26^th Street in Newton, it will be converted to the new Thornton Elementary School, Redmond said.

“They’ll tear out the walls to create square rooms, not triangular ones,” he said. “Thornton Elementary will move in for the fall of 2013-14 school year.”

Thornton Elementary School will be converted to the new Newton-Conover Health Science High School, which is currently housed in the school system’s administration facility.