The new school year is still a few weeks out, but the excitement is already building in Oconto Falls with a new middle school.
An open house and ribbon-cutting on Aug. 4 provided an opportunity for many to see the interior of Oconto Falls Middle School, 330 S. County Road I, which will replace Washington Middle School.
“The community was excited to go in there and see the new building – and it’s something to really be proud of,” said Stuart Russ, superintendent of the Oconto Falls Public School District.
Russ said one thing that wowed many people was how the new school was able to repurpose the center of the old middle school gym as a wall decoration in the new building.
“I think that was cool to bring that piece of nostalgia from that building into the middle school,” he said.
Another item that is popular is a Panthers sign in the library that lights up and is visable to motorists driving by on County Road I.
The school, which spans 74,594 square feet will house sixth, seventh and eighth grades, with future expansion plans that include a fifth grade wing, according to Somerville Architects and Engineers, which designed the project.
The facility that sports many orange and black highlights throughout the building includes a full competition gym with two cross courts and a multi-purpose room designed for wrestling, dance and cheer.
Other facility highlights include secure entrances; a modern, flexible, light-filled library media center with collaboration rooms; flexible classrooms with sliding glass fronts to expand collaboration into commons spaces; and classroom-level pods with locker bays and flexible collaboration zones.
The parking lot will accommodate about 200 vehicles.
Russ said ahead of the school year, which begins Sept. 2, remaining projects include putting the final coat of sealant on the gym floors and growing grass adjacent to the building.
“The space is is definitely better from a collaboration standpoint for our students and for our staff,” Russ said.
He touted the art room as one example where the extra room should pay off.
“Having that space to do some of those maybe larger projects that you maybe couldn’t do in the older space,” Russ said. “Maybe we’re a little bit limited by just the area that you had in the classroom to work.”
The new middle school was built on a 90-plus-acrea parcel of land adjacent to both Oconto Falls Elementary School and Oconto Falls High School following voters approving a November 2022 referendum. An earlier referendum failed in April 2022.
Some sections of Washington Middle School were 40 to 50 years old, while other parts were built more than a century ago, then superintendent Dean Hess told potential voters at an informational meeting in 2022.
He added the heating system consisted of 65-year-old boilers, where replacement pieces and parts needed to be purchased off eBay.
The referendum gave the district $35.5 million to build the new school and demolish/clear the old school. (The building is currently in the process of being razed after a failed attempt to sell the property with the building intact.) Additionally, another $2 million was used to bolster secure entrances and roof repairs for all district schools.
Work began on the site in August 2023, with an official groundbreaking in September 2023.
“I just can’t thank our community enough for the opportunity to be able to build the building and to invest in our facilities,” Russ said.
An additional open house is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 4 that will allow parents the opportunity to tour the school with their child and meet their teachers.
This story was updated to add new information.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: ‘It’s something to really be proud of’: New Oconto Falls Middle School ready to open
Reporting by Kevin Dittman, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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