Back to the Future: Central Students Return to an All-New Campus

by Woody Jenkins, Editor

CENTRAL — More than 3,000 parents and students attended Orientation this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the new Central School Complex on Sullivan Road.  The complex, which cost $46 million, contains two separate schools — Central Middle School and Central Intermediate School.

More than 4,300 students will arrive for their first full day of class at all five of Central’s public schools next Monday morning.

The new school complex includes classroom space for 1,200 students at Central Middle School and 1,200 students at Central Intermediate School.

The classrooms are state of the art and included presentation table with computer for teachers, pull down screens, and wi-fi.

More advanced classrooms are provided for science labs, art, band, choir, home economics, and industrial arts.

Ordinary classrooms have 750 square feet of space, and other classrooms have 1,000 or more.

The complex also includes a Cafeteria which can seat 1,200 to 1,300 for lunch and 700 for banquets.  There are two gyms — a competition gym and a practice gym.  The competition gym, which is better than many small colleges offer, incudes additional basketball goals and volleyball.  Locker rooms are elaborate, and athletic facilities include coaches’ offices and advanced washers and dryers.

Each of the two schools has its own library.

Teachers have many amenities, including convenient restrooms, work rooms, shared prep rooms for science labs, and much more.

The central courtyard includes a clock tower, which is not yet complete, and learning displays, such as a giant map of the United States.  There are also practice fields for football, baseball, and softball.

Some of the work on Sullivan Road is not yet complete.  For drop-off instructions, see Page 11.