The paint is dry, the desks are ready, and the lights are on. Shatekon Elementary is open for business.
About 550 students had their first day of class at Shenendehowa’s eighth elementary school on Wednesday, Sept. 5.
A day before, district officials officially dedicated the school, which is adjacent to Arongen Elementary with an entrance on Maxwell Road off Route 146.
Construction on the $19.1 million project began in June of last year on land previously owned by the district.
The Shatekon Elementary School, with the word Shatekon, meaning ‘a balanced life,’ stands as a beacon light of hope and promise of an even brighter tomorrow for all of our children, Shenendehowa Superintendent L. Oliver Robinson said. `Five years from conceptualization to realization. That dream, that conceptual design, is now a reality.`
The one-story, 24-classroom building is the first new school to be opened in the district since Arongen was opened in 1992.
The name Shatekon, an Iroquois Mohawk term, was chosen by students in an Internet vote, beating two other choices.
Dodge, Chamberlin, Luzine, Weber and Associates Architects have designed all of the Shenendehowa buildings. Marty Weber was Shatekon’s head architect.
`It’s continuing the tradition of Shenendehowa, which is to build solid masonry buildings that last for a long time,` Weber said. `It reflects the contemporary design and aesthetic.`
Weber said that the design was flexible because the district owned so much land and he was able to design the building free of many constraints.
`The fact that district has land allowed it to be a one story building, it also allowed for the gathering of different grade levels in different parts of the building,` Weber said. `As you move from the cafeteria over, you have the youngest kids first and you move up all the way until you get to the upper grades that are closer to the gym.`
He also highlighted the fact that the building is air conditioned with a sprinkler system throughout, calling it a `fire area` that allows it to be more open.
Elizabeth Wood is Shatekon’s new principal. She was previously the principal at South Colonie’s Shaker Road Elementary.
`We’ve been able to draw from the expertise of the seven other schools in Shenendehowa, and it’s going to be an excellent opportunity for us to make decisions on how we’ll do business here at Shatekon,` Wood said. `We’re really looking forward to it.`
Colleen Stockert taught kindergarten at Arongen last year, and will teach one of four first-grade classes at Shatekon this year. She said after the dedication that students would take a tour of the school on Wednesday to help familiarize them with the new building.
`We’re all new together, it’s a great chance that we can become friends and make a new family here,` Stockert said. `I liked the idea of being one of the first groups to come here. This will be my classroom, it’s like establishing your own little territory.`
Robinson said that this year’s redistricting aimed at putting students from the same neighborhood in the same school and that about one third of district students are in new schools this year. The majority of Shatekon’s teachers and administrators are transfers from other Shenendehowa schools.
Mackayla Schmidt, 9, toured Shatekon after the dedication with her grandparents. Previously at Tesago Elementary, she will be attending the new school this year in fifth-grade.
`I’m kind of nervous because I never moved [schools] before,` Mackayla said. `[The classrooms are] very nice, I’m looking forward to meeting my teacher. I know a lot of my friends are here.`
Speaking at the dedication, Robinson said it was a glorious day in the history of the district.
`As our sacred charge as leaders for learning, we must all be engaged in an informed and principled strategic plan to ensure the vitality of a quality education for all children regardless of gender, race, creed, religion, or ability level,` Robinson said. `The greatest opportunity our children will have is education, because we know education is a passport to their future and the more educated they are, the further they can hope to go.“
