Designs for the new Menemsha School met with considerable support and some opposition this week at the Chilmark selectmen's meeting.
Charles Rose of Thompson and Rose Architects presented the designs for the new school to the selectmen for the first time Tuesday evening. The designs are ones selected by the Chilmark school building committee last week based on four schemes Mr. Rose presented to them.
The community came to celebrate the opening and explore the new Chilmark School on Tuesday night. While the air outside was wintry, inside parents and children drew warmth from friendly teachers standing in their new classrooms. It was a first visit for most to the new facility.
School principal Kathy Collins was quick to show off the pride teachers and students were already feeling about their new building. The 44 students made their move into the school on Monday, Dec. 13th. Just a week later, the place was their daytime home.
The $3.6 million Chilmark School is done. No sooner had the contractor finished the work on Tuesday than school principal Kathy Collins and others began moving boxes into the new building.
The Menemsha School still has a great old-fashioned school bell, sounded daily by a rope that dangles down from the roof.
Children of different grades still sit in class side by side and play together in a playground bordered by a foresty area they call "twiggyland." Many townspeople were educated here, in the same place as their parents and grandparents.
Today, the challenge to Chilmark is maintaining the special qualities of this rural school while making room for growth.
The Aquinnah select board moved to advance two regional projects Tuesday: the creation of a Martha’s Vineyard housing bank and the replacement of Chilmark School’s HVAC system.
