Davis Street School Debuts

Proud dad Eli Joseph snapped away as his daughter Aubriana ushered in the first day at her new $48.1 million school — with a blast of Earth, Wind, and Fire from her alto saxophone.

It was a celebration of opening day at the recently completed Davis Street 21st Century Magnet School.

Davis Street parents Eli and Kahlema Joseph were among hundreds of students, teachers, parents, and school officials who gathered Monday outside the spiffy new Westville K‑7 school. The school band’s rousing performance of Earth, Wind, and Fire’s ​“In The Stone,” was followed by speeches and ribbon cutting, as the school’s 470 students waved the flags of many nations.

Monday’s ceremony marked a sort of homecoming for Davis Street teachers and students, who have been teaching and learning in a swing space on Orchard Street since their school was demolished in 2009 to make way for the brand new structure officially unveiled Monday. Opening day followed a week of feverish preparation. Teachers and staff last week spent April vacation moving into their new home.

Davis Street has been ranked as one of the highest performing schools in the city. Under New Haven’s school reform drive, Principal Lola Nathan has earned the power to make more decisions about how to run the school and to continue fostering innovations there.

Around 10:15 a.m. Monday, Eli Joseph stood outside the school waiting for the ceremony to begin. He and his wife Khalema Joseph, who live in East Haven, have two daughters in Davis Street, in kindergarten and second grade.

Khalema said she worked hard to get her daughters into the school. It took multiple trips to the central office and ​“a lot of begging and pleading,” she said. It was worth it to get into a school with such good test scores and such a dedicated principal, she said.

Eli and Khalema’s daughter Aubriana came marching out shortly. Stepping in time to the rattling snare drums and the funky tuba bassline, she pumped the 1981 melody through her alto sax and grimaced as her parents embarrassed her.

Then the rest of the students came strutting out…

…waving little international flags.

Principal Nathan raised her hand for silence. Mayor John DeStefano was the first to speak. He acknowledged that the city is facing tough economic times, ​“but I always believe you’ve got to keep moving forward,” he said. Investing in education will pay off with productive, competitive new citizens. ​“These kids are going to give every bit of it back,” he said.

Five students were selected to cut the ceremonial ribbon: Vanessa Hansen-Quartey, N’ya Clarke, Rachel Young, Micaela Flores, and Frank Okoli.

Nathan said the new school biggest gift is more space. Students won’t be as crowded, and the school won’t have to use a single room for lunch, gym, assemblies, and performances, she said.

The building’s lofty new foyer features an original cornerstone from the original school, built in 1918. Will Clark, chief operating officer of the New Haven public schools, pointed it out to Chamber of Commerce’s Rob Thomas Monday during an impromptu tour of the new building.

The atrium is ringed by Davis Street’s watchwords — enthusiasm, respect, excellence, and others — alongside the original masonry sign from the old Davis Street school.

Clark showed off the school’s new library, which features new Dell computers and furniture carved with images of trees and flying dragonflies. Davis Street ​“never really had a library,” Clark said.

Davis Street also didn’t have a gym. It does now.

Clark’s tour stopped there next. The smell of fresh polyurethane filled the air. Gym teacher Nick Mangillo came through with a basketball pump and paused to rave about the new gym. ​“It’s fantastic,” he said.

Clark continued through a new music room, where music teacher William Fluker was warming up the band, and into a new performance space. He called it ​“a black box plus,” a space that can be used for concerts or plays or dance performances and classes.

Clark pointed out what he called the best view from any school cafeteria in town.

Soft northern light filled the high-ceilinged new art room. Much better than ​“art-in-a-cart,” Clark said.

In a third-floor science room, Clark noted the high-tech lab tables, which can move up and down for different experiments and different-sized students.

In his parental opinion, Eli deemed the science room ​“awesome.”

As the students filed back into the building, he raved about the opening. ​“It was wonderful. I took so many pictures,” he said. ​“I’m a proud parent, definitely.”