New school, new year: A fresh start at South High Community School in Worcester

WORCESTER — Classrooms at South High Community School's new building bring a welcome feature to students and teachers — walls between classes. 

The high school started its first school year at the new Apricot Street building on Monday. It is the school district’s first new high school since the current North High School opened a decade ago. 

The previous building was one of the last "open-concept high schools” in the state, where classes were separated more into pods than into traditional classrooms, South High principal Jeffrey Creamer said. 

"A big part of our school is the community that those pods led to, where teachers could just stick their head out over the partition and see the teacher next to them. They really found that comforting and built strong relationships," Creamer said. "They really incorporated that same idea, however, with walls. We have doors that attach to classrooms this year." 

More:Thanks for the memories: Old South High remembered as true 'community' in Worcester

The inclusion of walls has made the classrooms quieter, Creamer said. Most of the new classrooms also have windows, a feature that many classes in the previous building lacked. Teachers have appreciated the new source of natural light in classrooms and Creamer said the windows are more conducive to learning.

The new $210 million, 360,000-square-foot facility replaces a building that had been in use since 1978. It is the product of a three-year construction project. The South High replacement is about 40% bigger than the previous school, which stands just feet away from its replacement. 

Creamer said the students have state-of-the-art facilities at the new building. Planning for the building included features such as a 750-seat auditorium, a bistro and a bakery in the cafeteria, a diesel shop and science labs.   

The labs include chemical vents and beaker washers, Creamer said. Classrooms have projectors and voice amplifiers as well as smartboards. The building has computer labs; classrooms have Chromebook carts.

More:Then & Now: Original South High, 14 Richards St., Worcester

Whether students would be able to understand where they were going was something that Creamer said he was concerned about throughout the summer. Creamer said that close to 1,500 kids would be coming into the new building not knowing where they were going, with staff only coming in two days before school started.  

On the first day, staff was strategically placed to guide students, and signs were put up to direct students. Creamer said that getting students accustomed to the new building was going much better than he expected on the first week.

Distribution backups caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to some additional supplies such as shelving to not arrive by the time of the opening, but Creamer said the essentials were in place for opening day. 

Preparations for the demolition of the old building forced South High to continue hybrid-learning in May while other Worcester schools returned to fully in-person learning. The old facility was turned over to the contractor for demolition work after June 18. An athletic field is in the works for the old location, which Creamer said is expected to be finished by the end of the school year.     

South High's teaching staff includes several graduates of the old high school, and Creamer is an alumnus himself. While many have fond memories from the old building, Creamer said that they were still amazed by the size of the building during the first week.  

"Some of it was bittersweet; our teachers have great memories as students of the other building," Creamer said. "However, those disappeared fast when we walked into this place, it's huge. Teachers were saying 'Hey I got 20,000 steps the first day, I did 9 miles the first day,' just to walk around this building. It was an exhausting week but a great week." 

The design phase of the new facility started when Superintendent Maureen Binienda was principal of South High. Creamer said that the new building is a fitting legacy to Binienda's tenure.  

"This building is a super-legacy for her to leave, and I know our staff and our students are so appreciative of the work she has done for us," Creamer said.  

Noting that the incoming freshmen class has not had a fully on-campus school year since sixth grade, Creamer said that the new and returning students were excited to see the facility in their first week. 

"The timing couldn't have been better, I think," Creamer said. "After the kids coming off of the year they had last year, not being in school. To see the faces and talk to the students coming into this building has been unbelievable. They're so excited, happy to be here."