HMS slated for spring completion

  • Published
  • By Mark Wyatt
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
Officials from the 66th Civil Engineering Division and Army Corps of Engineers recently announced that the new 85,000 square foot Hanscom Middle School project is on schedule and expected to be complete this spring.

James Conway, resident engineer of the Army Corps of Engineers, called the new school an "architecturally significant" building, both inside and out.  

"This is a great project to turn over to the men and women of Hanscom Air Force Base with school-aged children," said Conway, who is a veteran of several military construction projects at the base. "They are deserving of a high quality, innovative facility and I think we are delivering that to them."

Since breaking ground on the middle school project in June 2014, students have been educated in nearby temporary facilities.

And as the middle school project nears completion, school officials are ramping up plans to move the primary school into the temporary facility over the summer so that work can begin on an 81,000 square-foot primary school.

Erich Ledebuhr, Hanscom Middle School principal, discussed the contemporary environment the schools will provide students and faculty.

"Education has changed a lot since the old schools were built 60 years ago," he said. "This new space will allow us to teach with 21st century methods."

According to the 21st Century Learning website, this type of learning includes a "holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning" by combining "a discrete focus on 21st century student outcomes with innovative support systems to help students master the multi-dimensional abilities required."

The project was coordinated with the Department of Defense Education Activity, or DODEA.

"The setup of the building is different as it is not the traditional classroom-by-classroom setting," said Ledebuhr. "There are a lot of common and open spaces - the design of the building was built around a common indoor space in the center of the school with classrooms surrounding that.".

The school includes both indoor and outdoor learning areas, Science Technology Engineering Math-enabled classrooms and an integrated building system, which will house solar panels and rainwater harvesting for teaching.

"This will enhance the education we are able to provide our middle school students," he said. "This will have a positive effect on every student that attends this school."

The new $34 million middle school facility will accommodate more than 300 fourth-through eighth-grade students.

Included are two general purpose rooms, a gymnasium, information center, computer lab, science lab, specialist room, music and art rooms, a classroom for learning impaired students and administrative offices.

Both projects include related infrastructure such as parking areas and playgrounds. Site improvements such as signage, fencing, paving, landscaping, exterior lighting and utilities are also included.

The Hanscom AFB campus consists of two schools, a primary school for students in pre-kindergarten through third grade and a middle school for students in fourth through eighth grade. Both schools are provided and supported entirely by DODEA, and are part of the Lincoln Public School system.

Officials expect the new primary school to open in September 2018.

When complete, the primary school will be fully integrated with the middle school, said David Wong, 66 CE chief of Engineering.

"We're replacing two schools that were built in the 1950s and renovated in the 1980s, so the families that live on base will soon have improved schools for their children to attend," said Wong.