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$43M Metro Business Academy Opens Doors
by Melissa Bailey | Apr 27, 2010 6:39 am
(31) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author
Posted to: Schools, Wooster Square
After years of waiting, Metro students moved into their own home, equipped with dizzying wall decor and some of the most cutting-edge technology in the school district.
Teacher Petrina Blakeslee (pictured, with seniors Vivian Perez and Alejandro Esquivel) toured her digital media class around their new environment Monday, on the first day of school in the new, $42.7 million building at 115 Water St. The business-themed interdistrict magnet school moved there after years in transitional buildings.
At a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony, schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo welcomed them to their new home. The school was the 35th to be built as part of Mayor John DeStefano’s $1.5 billion school reconstruction program. Mayo said the Metro students have moved through more swing spaces than any other school. Since its inception in 2003, the school has been housed at 21 Wooster Pl., 495 Blake St., and most recently at 130 Leeder Hill Dr. in Hamden.
“You can see it was well worth the wait,” he said, standing before the student body at the school’s four-story atrium. The school, designed by the SLAM Collaborative, was built to serve 400 students. It currently serves 167 students in grades 9 to 12.
Alejandro Esquivel said over the last four years, he’d gotten used to the transitional homes: the nap on the way to the Hamden swing space, the lost baseball in West Rock Park, which once served as a makeshift gym. For years, the students had no gym, no library, no art rooms, and no music rooms.
Now they have all that—and more.
The new school has wireless access everywhere in the building. Every classroom will have an LCD projector and an interactive white board. The school has five full computer labs, a small video editing room, two portable laptop carts, and a teacher’s resource room staffed with 12 more desktops. One lab has all 27-inch iMacs. That calculates to about one computer per student, according to Blakeslee, who teaches digital media and photography, and serves as the school’s information technology director. The ratio will drop to 2:1 students per computer once the student body expands to the school’s capacity of 400 students.
The new computers mean Lauri Gracy’s students can now use Microsoft Excel in their accounting class. In previous buildings, access to computers was tight, she said.
“I was teaching accounting with pencil and paper,” she said. In college, all accounting homework is done on Excel, she said: “Now the transition will be easier.”
At first-period class, Blakeslee’s students took a first look at the third-floor lab room where their digital media class will meet. It was stocked with all new Dell computers. Students will use Final Cut Pro, Adobe Photoshop and iMovie to edit photos and video, she said. She asked her students how they liked the new room.
Senior Shauniqua Davis (pictured) sad she welcomed all the natural light—a contrast to the school’s Blake Street swing space, which she described as “windowless.”
“It’s very exciting,” she said of her new school. “You don’t feel miserable.”
She’s been going to Metro for four years, and has eagerly awaited the move: “They kept saying next year, next year.”
“I feel more motivated, at home, more confident,” she said, seated near a window just half an hour after school began. “I feel like we’re finally settled—we’re not moving.”
A bit later on, a few students from Blakeslee’s class jumped online to check out their entry to a statewide film festival. Sure enough, their documentary about a new wind turbine at the Phoenix Press popped up on the homepage of CT Student Films.org.
“Uh-oh, we’ve got some competition from Career!” Blakeslee said playfully.
When one student protested that the other school’s documentary looked more high-tech, Blakeslee said not to worry.
“We’re getting there,” she said.
Moving forward, they’ll have a technological boost other schools don’t have.
“We’re the most technologically advanced high school in New Haven,” Blakeslee reckoned.
She said a lot of the technological improvements are ones that she could not make when she used to work at Wilbur Cross. Since she started working at Metro six years ago, she’s been heavily involved with the details of the new construction project. She sat on an advisory committee that shaped those plans over the past six years. She served, in part, as a lobbyist for including cutting edge technology into the design of the four-story, 78,768 square-foot school.
“I really begged the architects,” Blakeslee said. She said her goal is to get students ready, so when they go into a business environment, they’re ready to thrive.
Around 8:30 a.m., Blakeslee led her class on a tour of the building.
One student protested that the windows don’t work.
“There’s construction” outside, noted Blakeslee, referencing the highway work being done just outside the window. It’s better to have the windows closed, she said. The proximity to diesel fumes was one topic of concern as the school went through the site approval process. Many of the district’s new buildings have non-operable windows anyway, in order to help the heating and cooling system regulate properly.
The building’s exterior has a funky, multicolored paneling that makes it jump out visually to drivers passing on Route 34. (“It looks like it has the measles,” Downtown Alderwoman Bitsie Clark once remarked.) Inside, the wacky patterns are repeated in every room, from the tiled hallway ...
... to the bathrooms (“don’t go in if you’re nauseous,” one observer warned) ...
... to the two-story gymnasium.
A representative from the SLAM Collaborative said the school was built with a unique design to fit the magnet school’s business theme. For example, it has a room dedicated to the school store, where students will create a business plan and sell environmentally friendly products.
The school has a 105-seat lecture hall, equipped with a large screen so that classes can video-conference on a large scale. Students will be able to go up to a mic and ask a question to someone 1,000 miles away. “It’ll be like Oprah,” Blakeslee told her class. Her students already video-conference with other classes in Connecticut.
“Now, you can communicate gigantically,” she said.
Superintendent Mayo said he got dizzy looking at all the new technology in the school. He said the building presents great opportunities.
“Take advantage of them,” he urged. “You have no excuses not to excel.”
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Comments
posted by: Threefifths on April 27, 2010 8:34am
Superintendent Mayo said he got dizzy looking at all the new technology in the school. He said the building presents great opportunities.
It will also make the new haven taxpayer dizzy
from the cost.
posted by: Local Taxpayer on April 27, 2010 8:57am
Very pretty (and expensive). ... More BOE bloat and the place will be a dump within five years because NH won’t be able to maintain it. Wonder whether the windows can be left open as with Wilbur Cross High School? That’ll let all of the vehicle exhaust from the nearby Rt. 34 connector in as well as heating $$$ out. Unbelievable.
posted by: fred Johnson on April 27, 2010 9:30am
One of the worst looking buildings, inside and out, that I have ever seen in an urban environment. Every material in the book was used on the facade and the interior spaces are overly busy, visually disruptive and do not seem to be especially functional. Since when has learning become so loud? SLAM has really gone whole hog with this and time will tell if will be viewed as the eyesore I think it is now. Cutting edge technology for learning- I think not with good old windows machines - no money left over for Apple computers?
posted by: tvman on April 27, 2010 9:40am
i had 5 “interns” from the business academy when they were in westville.
these “business” students showed up 30 minutes late in t-shirts and baggy jeans.
they lasted less then a week.
it’s not the building, it’s what’s done inside. a waste of money.
posted by: Pedro Soto on April 27, 2010 10:28am
Local Taxpayer, ... It specifically says in it that the windows CAN’T be opened!
I agree that overall the Board of Education could probably go on a belt-tightening, but please read the article at least.
posted by: Dan Pompa on April 27, 2010 11:06am
This building is simply atrocious. I can’t believe that it was ever approved. How can you learn in it when you can’t even walk down the hall without needing to hurl. The gods of architecture surely have been angered. It is ugly and uninviting from the outside in. What an expensive mistake.
posted by: cba on April 27, 2010 11:06am
This is an expensive facility and will add to the already bloated education budget. It will be worthwhile if its graduates are conditioned and educated to succeed in business. Time will tell, but if it does not succeed will Mayo take a reduction in his salary for this failure?
posted by: downtown d on April 27, 2010 11:41am
it sounds like the school children are really excited about a building that has facilities to learn and grow in. good luck in the new facility!
posted by: dizzy reader on April 27, 2010 11:49am
Are these students the unwitting subject of a crazy architect’s experiment to study the effects of dizzying design on the young mind?
posted by: Been Called Worse on April 27, 2010 12:03pm
tvman -
Internships are both an opportunity for students to learn about the real world and business outside of academia as well as a chance to put concepts to practical use.
I have had college interns work for me who arrived in the same manner (too casual and too late). I had just assumed it was my responsibility to guide them in what was considered to be appropriate for the work environment. Unless the students were grossly negligent or mismatched for the position, I have always taken the time to mentor my interns to help mold them into productive, reliable, diligent young workers.
posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on April 27, 2010 12:28pm
I was never able to beat this “Metropolitan Business Academy” level in Super Mario World.
400 students seems so small for such a generous facility. Even schools as large as Cross of Hillhouse seem to tiny to warrant such extravagant spaces. The interior and exterior finish materials still confounds me as to why they were ever manufactured as building materials in the first place. Although I will say, that 4 story height space looks pretty interesting, but perhaps it would make more sense located in a business or civic center’s hall.
The construction on 1-95 south of Water Street created a nearly impossible architectural context to design something successfully, so my biggest issue is location of the site (location of the highway really).
So much money must have been spent on construction nightmares of structure and little massing articulation that really doesn’t do much for the end product. It would be nice if our school buildings allocated resources for nicer materials with simpler massing. So many of New Haven’s old school buildings are fairly simple, but with incredibly good construction and material use that they result in very dignified buildings that have stood the test of time. Aside from this school’s interior, so many are building done with simple masonry block and tiles and become so standardized on the interior that usually the colors of lockers are the only indicator of what school you are in. Bring back the simple massing of a box with 4 other boxes at each corner and use stone, brick and copper with wood trim interiors. It will likely cost less in the end with initial and prolonged construction problems.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs529.ash1/31061_1295857071613_1085910074_30697773_4344964_n.jpg
vs
http://dvice.com/assets_c/2009/06/Tvsnow-thumb-530x359-19387.jpg
posted by: Listen Up on April 27, 2010 1:21pm
Local Taxpayer :
You mention the windows being opened at Wilbur Cross….I hear this statement alot so lets touch on some things you may not know.
The temperature in most of those classrooms is tremendously Hot. The city HVAC system stinks and it not just Wilbur Cross it’s all the schools. Ask some of the teachers they will tell you.
Also if a Teacher opens his/her window that they should shut it at the end of the day. Instead the teachers are so worried about running out of the school as fast as they can that they leave their windows open and their classrooms a disgusting mess. You should see how these kids treat these schools and the teachers just let it happen.
posted by: good luck mba on April 27, 2010 1:46pm
hopkins: i doubt metro will even reach its goal of 400 students. currently they have 150 kids, but as suburban parents get a sample of the incompetence of the school’s administration, they pull their kids out faster than you can say north haven high. NHI: check the student numbers in december of 2010. should be interesting.
posted by: cedarhillresident on April 27, 2010 1:59pm
First this is the most ugliest building in the city make the old Coliseum look good. Second don’t cry we have no money when you are wasting it on such extravagant temples! Weather it is state or city money it is our money.
with that I see a new design in the future for new haven.
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/assets_c/2008/12/box-house-thumb-400x300.jpg
posted by: bill Saunders on April 27, 2010 4:31pm
Cedarhill:
If the administration is broke, I want to be broke like them!
posted by: Vinny G on April 27, 2010 4:44pm
Who in the Board of Education allowed the architect to allow this design? Did the BOE ever think about future maintenance issues?
This school is similar to the pyramids, a monument to the architect at the tax payers expense and a campaign contribution to Destefano and nothing else. I’m surprised he did not make the ceiling tiles multiple colors.
posted by: A TAX PAYING CITIZEN on April 27, 2010 4:48pm
All I have to say is that I dont like the look of this school, I dont like the fact that they can spend all this money on a school, but spend no money on hiring more teachers. It just dont make sense. You have to say money by cutting teachers, yet in still u can find funding to build.. Now you see why the students in New Haven arent learning.. If you look on the state of ct department of education website, you just might find this school on the list for failing the CMT.. There"s over ten school on the list..
posted by: New Haven Resident on April 27, 2010 6:33pm
TAX PAYING CITIZEN- “If you look on the state of ct department of education website, you just might find this school on the list for failing the CMT.. There"s over ten school on the list..”
CMT’s are elementary level tests; ironically enough Metropolitan received statewide recognition for making gains on the CAPT exam (high school level) between 2008 and 2009.
PS What’s with all the negativity? Enjoy your new building Metro community.
posted by: working(too hard) mom on April 27, 2010 9:09pm
I didn’t think it was possible to make the inside of this building uglier than the outside. Really, is this some type of joke? Who signed off on this atrocity?
posted by: anon on April 27, 2010 10:25pm
If you think this building is funny, wait until you see the new $90 million “science and technology” high school currently in the NHPS pipeline…
posted by: nauseousinnewhaven on April 28, 2010 9:36am
This building is an affront to the many years of hard work the City of New Haven and the pool of talented design professionals have invested to establish a high level of architectural decorum.
This building is a poster child for “TOO MUCH ARCHITECTURE”, representing the inability of the architects (and city administrators charged with vetting the design) to recognize the difference between exciting, provocative design and unbridled, out of control experimentation. How this design exited SLAMs
office without a more thorough internal design crit is unreal. The only part that is of equal distress is that the city lacks the aesthetic governance to spot this atrocity before the design development phase.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN ?
ONE OF THE MOST PROMINANT SITES IN THE CITY is now an embarrassment to the city, not only for its residents but for everyone traveling one of the most highly traveled roads in our country…
posted by: dizzy gillespie on April 28, 2010 10:15am
Oh my god. I have vertigo issues, and just looking at the still photos makes me ill. I cannot imagine walking through this space every day and then being expected to sit in a classroom and concentrate.
Were the mixed pallets of random tiles on sale the day the builders picked up the materials? Seriously, what is the pedagogical philosophy behind this interior design choice? I would love to hear the architects justify this. I really, really would.
What an embarrassment and a waste of money. Not to mention unbelievably disrespectful to the students and teachers who have to work in this building. It’s just cruel.
posted by: nauseousinnewhaven on April 28, 2010 11:00am
I frequently travel the country on business.
The appreciation of places is often based on the people , food , institutions etc.
Architecture is most often ones’ first impression. When visiting Paris you search for the Eiffel Tower , New York - the Empire State Building, you get the idea.
As buildings give a voice to our great city, our city administration has failed in allowing a structure such as this to shout at all that encounter it.
This “gateway” to our city will forever be associated with a terrible and immature building.
posted by: sore eyes, brown lungs, green in the gills on April 28, 2010 3:00pm
This strange and awful school adds a whole new dimension to the term “Sick Building Syndrome.”
posted by: whysonegative on April 28, 2010 3:54pm
All you keep mentioning is the architecture of the building but the most important thing is that it does include better technology and resources in order for the students to learn and greater succeed in the real world. Image being at that school before without even a library to study. It has already been built and it’s location is not going anywhere neither is the way it looks, so instead of complaining about what can’t be changed, embrace it and help the students succeed instead of waiting for them to fail (Good luck MBA).
posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on April 28, 2010 6:07pm
whysonegative,
This article was about the new building, not so much about the school.
posted by: Josiah Brown on April 29, 2010 11:28am
Several comments above address teachers, as well as facilities, in the schools.
A number of Metro Business Academy teachers have been Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute Fellows, including two who have participated multiple times in recent years.
Sam Jones, who teaches math, is a Fellow in 2010 for the fourth consecutive year (in a seminar on “Geomicrobiology: Life on the Rocks,” led by Ruth Blake, Professor of Geology and Geophysics). He wrote these earlier curriculum units:
2009 http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/2009/4/09.04.07.x.html
(in a seminar led by William B. Stewart of the School of Medicine anatomy faculty)
2008 http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/2008/5/08.05.08.x.html
(in a seminar led by David Bercovici, Professor of Geophysics)
2007 http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/2007/3/07.03.07.x.html
(in a seminar led by Sarbani Basu, Professor of Astronomy)
Matthew Monahan teaches English and participated the last two years, developing the following units:
2009 http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/2009/2/09.02.11.x.html
(in a seminar led by Pericles Lewis, Professor of English and Comparative Literature)
2008 http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/2008/4/08.04.05.x.html
(in a seminar led by Annabel Patterson, Sterling Professor Emeritus of English)
posted by: newhvnchic on May 1, 2010 8:56am
To Cedarhill Resident: Haha - a refrigerator box! But where do you think Metro has been housed for the past 6 years - you might say it’s been just that! I love this new bldg. compared to living in a refrigerator box.
since when has everyone become an architectural genius? I’ve been in the school - it is ergonomically designed to make the best use of given light thereby cutting back on fossil fuels - I think this is cutting edge architecture for keeping the bldg. “green”. This is btw a very green structure.
The money earmarked for this construction was accounted for YEARS ago - part of the mayor and superintendent’s initiative - this didn’t just go up in the past 5 mos. Federal and State funds paid for this a long time ago.
To TVMAN: Kids are kids! They need us to teach them - that’s your job as one who agrees to MENTOR INTERNS. You were never a kid???? It takes so many of us to raise kids up.
posted by: eastyeye on May 3, 2010 11:23am
I am from East Haven and was hoping to talk my daughter (who is in 7th grade now) to look into this school for her high school education. However, after seeing the pix, I don’t know how anyone could spend an entire day there and not get nauseous! Whose idea was it to plaster every wall and floor with dizzying squares?? Didn’t ANYONE have a clue as to what the finished product was going to look like?? Regardless of the education potential, I can’t imagine subjecting her to 4 years of Dramamine just to get through the day!
posted by: joseph shmo on May 3, 2010 12:30pm
How about trying to play an organized sport in the gym ?
Get a look at those walls.
You might even have a case against the interior design for creating an environment SO DISTRACTING AS TO INCREASE VULNERABILITY TO PERSONAL INJURY !
Could you actually consider this a neutral ground for visitors expecting fair play ?
How does the DESIGN OF THE SCHOOL correlate to the work and business environment ?
There is some funny reference that this design
(interior/exterior) helps to anticipate the environments where these students might eventually work ?
HOW ?
Perhaps the school in its plan and program responds to these particular goals but where in the planning and design process does the notion of ABANDONING PRINCIPLES OF SPATIAL HARMONY and STRIKING A REASONABLE BALANCE BETWEEN STIMULATING AND CALMING SPACES come into consideration ?
I applaud the efforts to bring the idea of this school to fruition and it will hopefully live up to the dream BUT , the physical design is an example of recklessness and arrogance.
This should not be seen as the style nazis coming down on experimentation , modern design etc. , but rather the recognition of the responsibility the design professionals have to refine design ideas over and over until it is ready for PRIME TIME.
THIS LOOKS LIKE A FIRST YEAR ARCHITECTURE STUDENT WON SOME PERVERSE LOTTERY PRIZE TO ACTUALLY GET THEIR PROJECT BUILT !!!!
posted by: George on May 12, 2010 4:53pm
No, No, No!
The school needs to go to Rehab,&
The Administrators should go, go, go!
We are an out of district family who were considering this place until we visited the other day.
Thank God we did! Too bad the rhetoric is a sow’s ear dressed up. Ask Bill Gates about a full & enriched curriculum. We didn’t see one. Although the tech labs looked like there might be some hope.The most informative person we spoke to was the female tech teacher. Now she was impressive but constrained by the lack of resources.
Mayo said there was a Music Room.
Where??? and by the way where is the teacher.
There is no art room only a regular classroom without a sink.
Where is the Gym equipment?
We spoke to the Adminstrators. Cute dog & pony show. But we’re not buying it! Our kid’s education is too important to entrust to fawning syncophats.
No thanks Metro! My kid is staying in our own hometown.
Too bad for the kids who can’t leave the epileptic inducting decor. What did they have a sale on tile?
The ugliest building we’ve ever seen.
