DPS opens 3 new schools; now 2/3 of district's students in new buildings

Teachers have high hopes for technology as four more schools will open later this year.

DAYTON — As Dayton Public opens its three newest schools, more than two-thirds of the district’s students are now learning in new buildings.

An estimated 1,556 of those 10,473 students are at Meadowdale High School, Edison and Residence Park PreK-8 schools, the latest to open. Four more schools will open later this school year in the district of about 14,557 students.

The state is paying about 60 percent of the construction costs, with local funds coming from a $245 million bond issue passed in 2002.

Meadowdale High School teacher Mona Phillips welcomes the fresh environment after spending the past 22 years in the old high school.

“I’m loving the technology. I’m loving the air-conditioning,” she said Friday as she readied her classroom with the smooth R&B sounds of the Isley Brothers playing in the background.

She was also envisioning how her language arts students will benefit from the surround-sound technology.

“This will be wonderful when we do Macbeth,” she said of the Williams Shakespeare play her students will read and listen to on CD. Classrooms also have high-tech projectors on the ceiling and document cameras on teachers’ desks that allow them to project documents onto the screen for students to view.

The new school impressed Cameron Harris, 16, a junior who was helping Phillips sort materials.

“This building is a very cool place,” he said.

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