Board members tour new middle school

Walking into Northridge Middle School, a quote from entrepreneur Robert T. Kiyosaki is displayed prominently over the staircase.

"Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow," the quote reads.

For Lynda Ingram, principal at the new school set to open Aug. 8, the phrase can apply to the building of the school, which was built to meet a need for the present, but also to lead the way for the future.

"I think it’s a futuristic building," Ingram said. "We’re thankful that our architect could see into the future and how education looks."

On Tuesday, several members of the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education took a walking tour of the 134,000-square-foot building, which had a budget of about $29.6 million and will be able to hold 900 students. The school is part of Tuscaloosa City Schools’ strategic plan, which began in 2015 and will encompass $175 million in capital projects, curriculum changes and staff investment.

To build the new school, Tuscaloosa City Schools closed down Rock Quarry Middle School and University Place Middle School in May, sending the majority of students from those schools to Northridge. Rezonings also called for some students previously attending Eastwood Middle to be sent to the new Northridge Middle School.

During the walkthrough, school board members were able to look at some of the building’s 45 classrooms, which include choral and band rooms in a fine arts wing of the building. Another aspect of the building has stadium-type seating next to the staircase for assemblies, complete with a projector that can shine displays on a wall.

The first floor will accommodate sixth-grade students, the top floor will hold seventh-grade students and eighth-grade students will have their own part of the building on the same floor as the seventh grade. In addition to a shared lab on the second floor, each grade level will have three science rooms.

There is also a courtyard area for outdoor learning.

Walking through the halls, representatives from Ellis Architects talked about the open spaces in the building. They explained how locker spaces were about half the size of traditional wall lockers in order to save space.

The Rev. Matthew Wilson, who represents District 1 on the board, said he was impressed by the innovation on display in the building.

"I’m looking forward to seeing the learning and opportunities that go forward in this place from the outside to the inside," Wilson said.

In fact, Wilson said he would like to see that same innovation go into the making of the new Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, which is set to start construction later this year and be complete by March 2020. Ellis Architects is also managing the MLK project.

"I want to see the same passion and innovation for MLK as I have seen here," Wilson said. "He (Mike Ellis of Ellis Architects ) has assured me that this is some of the same thinking that we’re going to do with MLK."

Likewise, board Vice Chairman Marvin Lucas said that Northridge Middle School would serve as a model for other schools to follow.

"By putting programs here and other middle schools, this is a key to what we need to be doing with other schools as we add other schools in our system," Lucas said.

Reach Drew Taylor at drew.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.