‘It's a new Kermit'

KERMIT In a town the size of Kermit, with a little fewer than 6,000 residents, the buildings are more than their materials or the business conducted within.
Thus, the construction that followed a $33 million facility bond passed Nov. 6, 2006, has pro-duced more than new school structures and demolition noise.
“It’s a new Kermit,” Kermit ISD superintendent Santos L. Lujan Jr. said.
And it looks like it, too.
Gone are the aging Purple Sage Elementary and East Primary Elementary schools — Purple Sage is days away from being totally demolished — and across from Purple Sage is the new $14 million Kermit Elementary School, 95,000 square feet and open for classes since this August.
Approximately $700,000 of upgrades to the junior high, including a new roof, carpeting and an overhaul of the lockers, are under way.
Construction on the new $16.6 million high school on the East Primary lot began this summer and rebar was scheduled to be installed on the foundation this week. The high school’s auditorium will be restored to keep its charm and Madison Square Garden-quality seating, as Lujan Jr. put it.
If everything goes well, Lujan Jr. said, the 116,000-square-foot high school will open January 2011.
A new athletics field house and field turf at Walton Field has been completed.
At the elementary school, the approximately 640 students from pre-K to 5th grade are being housed under one roof, unlike the previous format.
For an organized flow of students within the building, principal Gabe Espino helped install street signs with clever names — Buzzing Junction and Sting Street, for example — as well as stop signs and tape for traffic lanes.
The two former elementary campuses used to have makeshift science labs, using empty class-rooms. The new school has two labs, complete with sinks.
Every classroom has a document camera, replacing traditional projectors and transparencies. There are two classrooms designed for students with special needs. A cafetorium hosts lunch, assemblies and presentations.
Espino, in his first year ever as a principal, was a teacher-coach last year and filled in the final two months of the year in an administrative position.
“This is a unique experience,” Espino said of having a first-time principal at a new school. “But the tail end of last year gave me confidence. I could pinpoint stuff the staff was ready for.”
Construction on a $150,000 playground will begin once Purple Sage is removed. For now, stu-dents during recess use a sizeable gym with six basketball hoops and a scoreboard suitable for a junior high.
“It’s just a lot of space,” assistant principal Sonia Gonzales said.

KERMIT’S 2006 FACILITY BOND
>> Nov. 6, 2006, facility bond approved for $33 million to schools.
>> July 10, 2007, Kermit Elementary School breaks ground.
>> January and February 2008, demolition of East Primary Elementary.
>> Aug. 24, 2009, Kermit Elementary School opens.
>> Summer 2009, Kermit High School construction begins on East Primary lot.
>> January 2011, targeted high school opening.