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Midvale • As a teacher for six years at Midvale Elementary School, Shad DeMill used to show up to work early to place a fan in his classroom window in hopes of combating the heat. The 61-year-old school doesn't have air conditioning, and at certain times of the year, it gets hot by 11 a.m.
DeMill, who is now the school's principal, is thrilled that torrid classrooms, causing students and teachers to sweat, won't be a problem much longer.
Canyons School District held a ground-breaking ceremony Aug. 3 on a new elementary school adjacent to Midvale Middle School, 7852 S. Pioneer St., that will replace the current Midvale Elementary. Students dug shovels into fresh dirt as school staff and community leaders applauded. It has been a long time coming.
Teacher Jean Buchanan has worked at Midvale Elementary for 23 years. She remembers hearing talk of a new school being built as long ago as 17 years.
"We celebrated the 50th anniversary, and then the 60th," Buchanan said, and still no new school.
"I'll believe it when I see the hole dug," she said moments before ground was broken, "so I guess we're close."
The new Midvale Elementary, which is about a block from the old school at 362 W. Center St., is expected to be complete in late 2012 and cost $16 million.
"We're way excited," said DeMill, noting students sometimes get "groggy" in the afternoons from the heat. "The kids deserve it, the community deserves it, so it'll be great."
The old Midvale Elementary has dark hallways, chipped paint and worn carpets. The new school will be full of natural light, and everyone involved can't wait for improved heating and cooling systems. While the school is often too warm in the spring and fall (it doesn't operate year-round), winter brings headaches too. Sometimes the boiler doesn't work properly and kids have to bundle up indoors.
Midvale Mayor JoAnn Seghini spoke at the ground-breaking ceremony, getting a laugh when she said she always considered the old school the "new school" because she attended an even earlier version of Midvale Elementary.
"But neither of those schools would ever meet the needs of today," she told those in attendance. "You cannot have an electronic classroom with only one plug."
She said the new school will be a place for students to learn, grow and discover in a modern, bright, comfortable, temperature-controlled environment.
The new 85,000-square-foot building will cover 9 acres on the 25-acre campus it will share with Midvale Middle School. It is being completed with a $250 million bond approved last year by voters to pay for 13 construction projects including a new high school in Draper.
The old school will be razed and used as green space. Students will continue to attend classes in the old school until the new one is ready next year.
"I think [the community] is seeing the follow-through of Canyons," DeMill said. "They promised it, and now they're ready to deliver."
New Midvale Elementary School
Cost • $16 million
Location • Adjacent to Midvale Middle School, 7852 S. Pioneer St.
Expected completion • Late 2012