Phelps Elementary School Opens Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget
ROCKLAND — Superintendent Alan Cron, School Building Chair Richard Penny and School Committee Chair Daniel Biggins are pleased to announce that Rockland Public Schools will be hosting a ribbon-cutting and open house this week to celebrate the opening of the new Phelps Elementary School.
Families, residents and community members are all invited to attend the ribbon-cutting and to tour the new state-of-the-art elementary school.
The school building phase of the project was a major success for the district, having been completed nine months ahead of schedule and substantially under budget.
WHEN:
Thursday, Jan. 12, from 6-8 p.m.
WHERE:
Cafetorium of the Phelps Elementary School, 1 Lt. Col. Brian Duffy Way, Rockland, MA
WHAT:
Phelps Elementary School officially opened on Tuesday, Jan. 3 with students and staff from the former Memorial Park School moving into the new building nine months ahead of schedule. In September, 760 students in grades 1-4, from all three of Rockland’s elementary schools, will be under one roof.
The school is named after Ann and Richard (Dick) Phelps. Ann served the Rockland Public Schools as head nurse for more than 20 years and Richard served on the school committee for 26 years. Ann founded Rockland’s Holiday Magic and Senior Issues at RHS, and served on numerous school and town committees. In addition to Dick’s service on the School Committee, he served as vice chairman of the middle school high school building project as well as vice chairman of the Phelps Elementary School building project. Dick Phelps also has deep roots in the community through the Phelps Insurance Agency, which is located in Rockland and has been in business since 1896.
“The fact that this project is named after Ann and Dick Phelps is both appropriate and heartwarming. No two Rockland citizens could better represent our hopes and dreams for the children of Rockland”, said Dan Biggins, Chair of the Rockland School Committee.
In December 2019, Rockland residents voted to approve the $86 million dollar building project.
“We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the citizens of Rockland who supported this project. They had the foresight to approve this amazing structure for future generations,” said Richard Penney, chairman of the building committee.
“We are thrilled with this school – it is innovative, inspiring, and practical, and we believe it will provide our elementary students everything they need to learn and thrive well into the future,” Superintendent Cron said.
How Phelps Stands Out
The school features a unique pod design structure with four classrooms facing one another and sharing a common area in the middle. This allows students from the different classrooms to meet and collaborate in the common area. The school has eight pods, to encourage cooperative, project-based learning.
The school also has two maker spaces to support hands-on, STEAM learning. Each maker space is equipped with 3D printers, a variety of hands-on learning tools, and the space to create things large and small.
There are also multiple outdoor learning spaces, including a large courtyard in the middle of the school’s footprint.
“We’re very proud of the unique design elements of the school that facilitate collaboration and synergy among our students and faculty that our other three elementary schools could simply never provide,” said Assistant Superintendent Rebecca Kidwell.
Next Phases
The building project was overseen by Project Manager Sean Burke from Braintree-based PMA Consultants; construction was done by Brate Builders, of Marshfield; and the project’s architecture firm is SMMA, based in Cambridge.
When asked about why he thinks the project is to date on time and under budget, Superintendent Cron said, “in addition to some incredible good fortune, I’d site the hard work, dedication and professionalism of our project management team, general contractor and architect. They have been terrific from day one. Especially in these times of economic uncertainty and supply chain issues, seeing this phase of the project completed and how beautifully the school came out is amazing.”
Memorial Park School is currently being demolished to make way for a synthetic turf field and additional parking for the Phelps School.
The Esten Elementary School will undergo upgrades over the summer and reopen in the fall as the Esten Early Childhood Center, housing the District’s preschool program and all kindergarten students. Jefferson Elementary School will be taken down and the land will be cleared and turned over to the Parks Department as part of an Article 97 land swap.
“I would like to thank everyone that had a hand in getting this project to where it is today, from PMA to Brate to SMMA and Richard Penney, Chair of the School Building Committee,” Superintendent Cron said. “I would especially like to thank the residents of Rockland for entrusting us with this extraordinarily important project that will not only see every elementary student in Rockland under one roof in the fall, but will serve as a special place of learning for our children for decades to come.”
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