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New Canaan Invited To Check Out The New Addition At Saxe Middle School

NEW CANAAN, Conn. — The entire New Canaan community is invited to celebrate the grand opening of the project at Saxe Middle School at an open house with guided tours. 

A grand opening is set for Tuesday for the project at Saxe Middle School in New Canaan.

A grand opening is set for Tuesday for the project at Saxe Middle School in New Canaan.

Photo Credit: Contributed

The event will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5. No RSVP is required, and it is open to the public.

The project broke ground on June 16, 2016, and was completed on budget and on schedule for the 2017-18 school year. 

A new two-story addition was completed, which houses STEM, science, art and general classrooms. The 60-year-old auditorium was completely renovated. And the music wing was resized, renovated and modernized. 

Boiler room abatement, which started this past summer, will continue in summer 2018.

The Grand Opening event will begin with a program in the new 716-seat Saxe Auditorium, featuring remarks and introductions from the stage followed by short musical performances by Saxe students and faculty. 

Guided tours will then allow visitors a first-hand look at the new addition, the renovated music rooms, and backstage areas of the auditorium.

“The Saxe Building Project benefits all students as it allows classes to go into right-sized spaces across grades 5-through-8 and provides a fully renovated auditorium, new art rooms, and enlarged music rooms in the school,” said Penny Rashin, Saxe Building Committee Chairman. “This Project puts Saxe on the road to continued success for the next 10 to 20 years.”

The classroom addition includes four art rooms, three state-of-the-art Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) rooms, and a STEM lab on the first floor. The second floor features nine general classrooms and a break-out space for small group study. 

The paved and landscaped courtyard allows access for outdoor art classes. The addition connects the new wing to the existing building at the north and south ends. Existing adjacent space was renovated into two special education classrooms.

The renovated auditorium has new lighting and audio/visual systems, including an acoustic shell for musical performances. A catwalk was added for stage lighting, and all new curtains and stage rigging were installed. 

The interior includes new carpet, walls, ceiling baffles, audio/visual control booths, and refurbished-into-new seats. The renovated music area provides new, properly sized and enlarged band and choral rooms, two student practice rooms and storage spaces for auditorium and music rooms. Orchestra moved into the former band room to provide additional space. Acoustic baffles and instrument storage were added for the orchestra, general music and music technology rooms.

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