New Haven opens two new schools

New Haven (WTNH) - For thousands of kids in New Haven today is the first day of school, and many will be stepping into brand new classrooms.

The Mauro-Sheriden Science, Technology and Communications Interdistrict Magnet School on Fountain Street used to be two schools. Now it's one Pre-K through 8th grade school.

The school has a new library full of books and computers and reading space. This school is an intra-district magnet school with a focus on technology and communications so they have a state-of-the-art studio where the kids run morning announcements live with anchors and a student run production staff.

This year the school will also branch out.

"We've taken on a robotics program and the video communications program which exposes the kids to these things," Mauro-Sheriden Principal Denise Coles-Cross said.

The robotics lab allows the kids to build and test their own robots. Mauro-Sheriden is also a NASA school so there is a connection to the astronauts and shuttle missions.

This is the city's 39th school renovation project. From the outside the magnet school looks like a gothic church. There are high archways and a huge iron gateway connecting the old space with the new space. The architect says it was the best use of space for two schools who share the same mission - technology and communication.

The only downside this type of renovation is it's expensive and difficult. "Gotta gut the old building out measure and tie into the new addition and it's actually more difficult," architect Ken Boroson explained.

It cost $47.5 million to build.

The teachers have been prepped for today, and parents have come for open houses to see for themselves the new space. It is more than 100,000 square feet.

New Haven has been on a school building spree over the past several years, and Mauro-Sheriden is not the only new school opening its doors. Number 40 on the construction list, Bishop Woods School, also opens today.