A fresh facade for the start of school at Rockville Centre

The start of school is just around the corner. But for many Rockville Centre students, things are going to be quite different when they head back to class on Sept. 1.

The district has been working on construction projects all summer, adding more space to both Floyd B. Watson Elementary School and South Side High School.

Construction was all done as part of the $45.9 million bond that the community passed in March 2013. At Watson, the district added three new classrooms and a small group space to the notoriously crowded building. To facilitate the addition, the school’s field was moved slightly. The playground also had to be torn up during the work, so kids at Watson are going to get to enjoy a brand new playground when they go out for recess.

South Side High School is where much of the work is being done, though. Construction is done on the northwest addition — the first of two to be added to the building. This addition adds new art classrooms.

Because of the added space of the first addition, the high school was able to reconfigure some of its classrooms. For this year, students won’t be using the portable classrooms outside, and they are soon due to be torn down. The second expansion will be built where they stand now.

“Kids are going to be able to stay in the building all day,” said Dr. William Johnson, the district superintendent. “It’s remarkable to say you don’t have to run outside into these classrooms, which I thought were an embarrassment for the district.”

In addition to the new classrooms, the first expansion also includes a new fitness center, which is open to all students — not just athletes.

“In the fitness center, the emphasis away from competitive sports to fitness is really going to be supported by the size of the room and the equipment we put into it,” Johnson said. He said that the emphasis has moved away from just having weights to also including cardio equipment.

This year, the district is expanding the iPad program that it started at the middle school two years ago to the high school. Every student in the high school will be receiving iPads this year, which they will have all year long.

“It’s not just about us doing things better with the iPads,” said John Murphy, the new South Side High School principal, “but doing things we never thought possible.”

Murphy is taking over the helm of the school from Dr. Carol Burris, who retired at the end of last year. He said he isn’t daunted to be starting his tenure as principal in a time when so much is changing at the school.

“It’s really exciting to come in with all these changes coming,” he said. “They look discreet and separate, but they’re really under the one broad umbrella of getting students ready for 21st century learning.”

Along with the iPads and the reconfiguring of classrooms, they school created a new, temporary library (the new library will be housed in the second expansion, which is planned to be completed by the start of the 2016-17 school year). The new library is in a slightly smaller space, and has a changed emphasis.

“Fewer books, but more space for students,” Murphy said. “It’ll serve as a hub for iPad learning, as well as the computer databases and archives.”

And many residents near the high school will be happy to hear that parking has improved from last year, because the school has reclaimed the north parking field. Much of it was closed off last year because of construction equipment staged there. Buses are also going back to their normal pick-up area next to the colonnade.