The Rye City School District held a ceremony to commence breaking ground for the Rye High School science wing construction project, which will provide 12 state-of-the-art labs while addressing overcrowding due to continued secondary school enrollment growth.
Members of the Board of Education, Central Administration and community were joined by elected officials as well as the architects and construction professionals working on the project as they gathered outside of the High School on June 6.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Alvarez presented welcoming remarks and introduced Assistant Superintendent for Business Kathleen Ryan, current Board of Education Members Laura Slack (President), Katy Keohane Glassberg (Vice President), Karen Belanger, Kendall Egan, Edward Fox, Nancy Pasquale, and Chris Repetto, and former Board of Education Members Joshua Nathan and Ray Schmitt. He also acknowledged former Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edward Shine, New York State Senator George Latimer, New York State Assemblyman Steven Otis, Rye Mayor Doug French, Rye Deputy Mayor Peter Jovanovich, Rye City Manager Scott Pickup, and Rye City Police Commissioner William Connors.
“It’s important to have an education focused on science,” Dr. Alvarez stated. “Rye is poised to erve students now and in the future.” Following the Superintendent’s comments, Mrs. Slack addressed the group and thanked current and former Board members, District administrators, High School staff, elected officials, members of the community, parent organizations, and Friends of the Rye City School District for their support.
“As a Board we have been working on this for a long time and we are so pleased to have proceeded to a groundbreaking,” she stated. “We look forward to sharing the progress of the construction and the finished product with the community.”
Dean Sproch from Savin Engineering introduced representatives from KSQ Architects, Triton Construction, Wernert Construction, Global Electric, Pearl River, and JNS. Rye High School Principal Patricia Taylor, after being introduced by Dr. Alvarez, expressed thanks to her staff at the High School.
She stated, “the students are excited and encouraged by the faculty enthusiasm. We hope this helps them to foster of love of science.”
The new science wing is expected to be completed by September of 2014, for use beginning in the 2014-15 school year.
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