After a monthlong delay, Miller Middle School students and staff members finally celebrated the long-awaited move into their new school building on Tuesday.
Miller students filled the new dual-purpose cafeteria auditorium where principal Vernadette Norman addressed them for the first time in the new building. Teachers were escorting the middle schoolers around the new building and making sure they were acclimated.
Students and staff move-in had been delayed because of a fire in July that broke out at the construction site causing upward of $150,000 worth of damage to electrical equipment that was pertinent to the building.
Durango Fire Protection District investigations have come back inconclusive as to the cause of the fire, but district officials are suspicious arson played a role based on previous incidents of vandalism at the construction site.
Durango School District 9-R Chief Operations Officer Chris Coleman said the final cost of the new building is estimated to be $55 to $58 million. Initially, the district reported the building to cost around $45 million, but Coleman said inflationary construction costs caused an increase in the final price.
Funding for the new building came from Bond Issue 4A, which voters approved in 2020, allocating $90 million to fund district and non-district charter school upgrades.
The opening of Miller comes just ahead of the November vote on a district bond initiative that seeks $150 million for improvements, including a new school at Three Springs.
The 2024 bond would cost a homeowner about $14 per month, or $167 annually, for a home valued at $500,000.
It’s been an unconventional start to the new school year for both Miller and Durango High School students, who had to share space at Durango High School and the Impact Career Innovation Center during the first month of the year.
“They were the most resilient people ever,” Norman said of students’ handling of the situation. “They came right in and they did their thing. They inspired us to let go of some of the angst and anxiety that we had.”
The building includes a new gymnasium on the northwest side of the building that features two basketball courts with a drop down divider and a weight room. Miller has seven athletic teams in addition to its standard physical education classes.
Miller Athletic Director and P.E. teacher Mike Jaramillo was ecstatic about the new facility. Miller previously had a temporary weight room set up in the cafeteria. Now, the weight room is equipped with two weight racks, a full set of dumbbells, a television monitor and electric exercise sleds that can vary in resistance based on the setting.
“I grew up in Durango and went to Smiley,” Jaramillo said. “I competed in that building (Miller’s original building) and now to teach here in this new facility is just amazing.”
Jaramillo was part of the design team for the new school building.
Coleman noted that the temporary weight room in the cafeteria generated significant noise pollution near the old administrative offices because of loud music.
Both the new building and renovations to the east wing will feature collaborative classrooms, where students of the same grade and subject matter can work together in larger groups.
The new collaborative designs fall in line with the trends of other new school buildings such as Animas High School and the Impact Career Innovation Center.
Classrooms are divided into “pods” based on subject and grade, with a common space for students to collaborate on group projects in what the district describes as a more professional setting.
“That’s sort of the new learning model,” Coleman said. “It’s this more collaborative space. That’s why all of the furniture itself is on casters and movable. You have the ability to bring large tables or break them out into individual group sessions.”
As experiential learning and career in technical education gain popularity at younger levels of secondary education, the new building includes a makerspace on the south side of the building.
The makerspace trend has surged in recent years as educators have increasingly embraced project-based and experiential learning. In 2022, a makerspace was added to Mountain Middle School’s new addition, and the same feature was included in the new building at Animas High School. Last year, Impact also incorporated a makerspace when it opened at Durango High School.
In addition to the new building, the district renovated the more recently built section of the old school building, constructed in 2004, located in the east wing. The renovation included an elevated bridge that connects the new building to the more dated section of the school.
Most of the work done on the school’s existing infrastructure was cosmetic, such as replacing brick interiors with white-painted walls and adding more windows in the classrooms.
The older portion of the building houses all of the sixth and seventh grade classes.
On Monday, teachers toured the building to familiarize themselves with its layout, enabling them to assist students in navigating the significant changes on Tuesday.
“Now we have a do-over and some of the teachers are looking forward to that, because it will reset some of those norms,” Norman said of the school’s official first day in its new classrooms.
The second-year Miller principal said students, even at a middle school age, take pride in having a new facility and helps them have a sense of accountability.
“When they are in a place that is new and exciting and inspiring, it makes them want to do more,” Norman said.
Construction continues on the remainder of the project, which is set to finish in spring of 2025. Coleman said demolition of the west wing of Miller Middle School’s old building began three days ago.
The school’s new football field will be moved to that area, and a dedicated drop-off zone for buses will be situated to the west of the newly renovated building, near the new football field.
There will be a pathway that leads up to the elevated bridge where students can enter the school.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
