Marinace Architects representatives have now been over and under and around every area of the Andover Elementary/Middle School to gain a respect for the present building and its site in the town center.

The School District Meeting last March provided funds for a sustainability study, not the replacement of present school buildings or change of location.

Patches of the past to the school’s infrastructure need replacement or improvement. Examples are the insulation blown in over the original building and the drop ceilings installed in 1979 for energy savings.

Electrical and mechanical engineering studies have been conducted and suggestions are expected in those areas.

Marinace Architects representatives have assisted in replacing some kitchen equipment which was an immediate need this summer.

As they conducted a survey of AE/MS staff, they have met with enthusiastic comments such as, “It’s about time” that improvements were given value and order.

Education has received the attention of many legislators since the original building was built. The lowest birthrate in the United States occurred in 1933, as parents considered the crop failures of  the 1850s that forced many of their parents to give up children they could not feed to send them to America to indentured servitude. Sages of education such as Alfred North Whitehead recommended language, arts, and music, as learning aids and math, science, and engineering to move the next generation out of the Depression.

History has a way of repeating itself, as we see this approach recurring. The major change has been brought about by legislative attention to produce many mandates that must be met that affect education facilities and surrounding areas. These are all being included in study.