The elementary school named for Wallace Aylesworth is now gone, but a new middle school being built on the site will carry the longtime Portage educator’s name.
“It wasn’t a farewell to Aylesworth in the spring. It is going to be a welcome back to Wallace Aylesworth, a very respected, dedicated member of our education community as a previous teacher, principal and superintendent in Portage,” Superintendent Amanda Alaniz said at Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony.
“The welcome back is going to be quite grand,” she said.
All Portage students going through seventh and eighth grade will use the new building.
Construction bids last December came in at less than $58 million, well below the estimated $88 million cost, allowing the district to accelerate upgrades at other schools.
“The ability to build a building without having to go to a referendum is a significant undertaking and a huge accomplishment for the community,” Alaniz said.
“This is our first building in a very long time,” she said. Portage High School East opened in 1979. The western portion of the building was once Grissom Middle School.
“When you think about building a new school, when you think about the fiscal environment that some of our state leaders have put all of our schools under, for us to build a new school today without a referendum, without having to go back to the taxpayers, is quite an accomplishment. We’re very proud of that,” School Board President Andy Maletta said.
“I’m bubbling over,” he said. “This is something that I talked about maybe retiring from the School Board, but I want to stay on long enough to see this project through.”
“It’s going to be such an exciting thing to see this school rise and see what’s going to happen to this whole intersection; really the main intersection of Portage is going to be completely transformed by this whole building and relocation of the football field,” Maletta said.
Architect Mike Schipp, principal and project manager with Fanning Howey, has designed a lot of schools over the years. That’s the firm’s specialty. “Education is all we ever do,” he said.
“Sequencing was a little bit of a challenge because we only had a little bit of space to work with,” Schipp said. Willowcreek Middle School will remain in use until the new middle school is built, then razed after students occupy the new Aylesworth Middle School.
That predetermined the best location for the new school, he said.
“There’s a lot of needs when we try to reimagine a whole campus,” Schipp said. “We kept the whole design simple, but I think it’s going to fit in well with the city and the whole Central Avenue corridor.”
The school’s design has two halves, with academic uses on the west side and the public side to the east.
“We’ve broken this down into smaller units,” one for seventh graders, one for eighth graders and an arts wing between them. The performing arts classrooms are on the upper floor to allow higher ceilings and better acoustics.
More Top Picks Best Countertop Ice Makers For Home Bars
Security was an important factor. “Each of the academic wings can be shut down, so there’s layers of security,” Schipp said. The administration area is at the front door to the east, with the gym and physical education areas to the northeast.
“The idea is flexibility, too,” with potential for future growth. “Who knows what’s going to happen in 10 years or 20,” so Schipp’s design leaves the opportunity to expand to the west and north.
Director of Buildings & Grounds Mile Mavrovic said the building will be very energy-efficient with LED lighting throughout and geothermal heating and cooling, with over 100 geothermal wells, 550 feet deep, supplying water for the boilers. “It’s a little more expensive at the beginning, but it pays over the long run,” he said.
“The building will be as green as a school building can be,” Mavrovic said. Once it’s substantially completed, NIPSCO will certify its energy efficiency.
Mavrovic and others in the district aim to provide the best and healthiest environment for students, staff and the community, he said.
Vice President Wilma Vazquez has served on the School Board for 10 years. Planning the new school “almost seems like forever,” she said, but it has been the subject of serious discussion for the last four to six years.
“It starts off as an idea and then it goes into something like this,” Vazquez said, referring to the groundbreaking ceremony for a state-of-the-art school.
“Every student deserves it,” she said.
“The students all deserve not only a quality education but also the environment” with good air quality, lighting and amenities. “They deserve the best.”
A stimulating environment stimulates emotions and thoughts, she said, so students will learn and perform better.
“I’m looking for safe, secure, beautiful and has all the possibilities of learning and enjoying a rich environment,” Vazquez said.
“I’m looking forward to the first day of school to see their faces as they react to a brand new building,” she said.
Maletta is, too. He attended the former Aylesworth Elementary when it was used as a junior high. “This has been a long time in the planning. It wasn’t easy,” he said.
Carrie Biggs, a Title 1 teacher at Jones Elementary this year, has returned to her roots. She attended Jones as a young child. She also attended Aylesworth and taught there until the last day of classes this spring.
“I didn’t want Aylesworth to go, but I’m glad they’ll continue the Aylesworth name,” she said. “I’m excited to see it.”
When she drove to downtown Portage, she would make it a point to drive by and take pictures of the demolition. “Oops, there goes my room!”
Director of Grants and Assessments Linda Williams attended the groundbreaking, too. “This is the first new school building we’ve had here in Portage for a really long time,” she said. She’s glad to see all seventh and eighth graders will attend the new school.
“When I decided to be a teacher, I wanted to be here long enough to see a new generation go through,” Assistant Director of Grants and Assessments Sarah Pier said. “I’ll be able to see that building get used by new students, new teachers.”
Biggs was a sixth grader when she first attended Aylesworth Junior High. Her mother graduated from the former high school at the site.
“I’m excited to see how excited the kids are,” she said, to see the new building when it opens.
“What a great day to be an Indian,” Maletta said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.