FCPS has high expectations for new school on Keithshire
Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Friday, May 07, 2010
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Meribeth Gaines, currently principal at Northern Elementary, will take the helm at the new school.
With heavy equipment rumbling in the background, Fayette County Public Schools officially broke ground Friday for an elementary school on Keithshire Way.
The $17.1 million school, which has yet to be named, will welcome an anticipated 650 students in August 2011. It will be the first brand-new elementary school constructed in more than a decade, aside from those built to replace existing schools.
“This is an exciting time for us and our kids and for the future of our community,” Superintendent Stu Silberman told the crowd at the Keithshire site, which is between Clays Mill Road and the round-about on Wellington Way.
He thanked the community for supporting multiple construction and renovation projects across the district and predicted great things for the newest school.
“Keep an eye on this place,” he said as he introduced Meribeth Gaines, who will be the principal.
Gaines, who is currently principal at Northern Elementary, said she is excited about the challenges of heading up a new school – especially one that will be on the cutting edge of technology and sustainability.
She highlighted certain essentials for success that will be the instructional focus at Keithshire: critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, adaptability, stewardship, leadership and creativity, curiosity and imagination.
“The combination of core content and these 21st century skills will redefine rigor at the new school,” said Gaines, who is confident the approach will prepare students well.
The school, which is designed by GBBN Architects Inc. and under construction by D.W. Wilburn Inc., will be the most energy-efficient and sustainable school in Fayette County. The nearly 76,000-square foot facility – featuring solar energy panels, a rainwater capture and reuse system, a solar hot water system, permeable pavers, rain gardens and automatic electric lighting controls – will itself be a teaching tool.
Building systems that would be normally be hidden behind drywall and ceiling tiles will be visible and become part of classroom instruction. In addition to standard classrooms, preschool classrooms and art, music and computer classrooms, there will be an outdoor classroom, designated recycling areas and native landscaping.
Darla Simms and Bill Gatliff, principals at nearby Picadome and Stonewall elementaries, commended Gaines and announced their schools had donated trees for the new site. Other speakers included Becky Sagan, school board chairwoman; Mayor Jim Newberry; and Mary John O’Hair, dean of the University of Kentucky’s College of Education.
O’Hair praised ongoing and expanding collaboration between UK and Fayette County schools to promote innovative learning from preschool through graduate education. An 18-member chorus from Northern Elementary followed with the song “We Are the People of the 21st Century,” which includes the phrase “We are the future.” The back of their T-shirts read “Breaking New Ground in Education.”
Gaines thanked the kids, chorus director Julie Strange and art teacher Annie Lester, who painted the backdrop of seven canvas panels featuring the 21st century skills.
“The students from Northern have such a special place in my heart,” Gaines said. “I’m just extending my family across town.”