New Middle School Dedicated
First ECMS open house draws crowd
By CHRIS BARBEE cbarbee@leader-news.com
Music, orations and a power point presentation showing the many state-of-the-art features at the new El Campo Middle School campus were presented Sunday afternoon from 1:30-4 p.m.The keynote speaker for the open house ceremony was Superintendent Mark Pool, who addressed a large audience right after the ECMS choir performed. Student body vice president Chance Nohavitza, a seventh grader, gave the invocation. Student body president Adrian Piloto, an eighth grader, led the Pledge of Allegiance.

El Campo ISD Superintendent Mark Pool was hired following the defeat of a bond issue in November 2003 for a new middle school, and was tasked with figuring out how to get an issue approved. Sunday afternoon he emceed the open house ceremony of the resulting new school. Here he points out the many modern features included in the school, including this large screen and stage in the cafeteria area. L-N Photo by Chris Barbee

"Today, and the opening of this new middle school, is not only a great day for this community and the El Campo ISD, it is also a great day in my own professional life; one that I will mark as a career milestone," Pool said in opening his comments.

He said his first public meeting as superintendent was in the cafeteria of the old middle school. It was a public forum hosted by the board to get community input on why the November 2003 bond election for a new middle school had failed, and how the community could proceed in providing a better learning environment for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

"That was the first or second week of January 2004; and now, four years later, after several milestones, and a few bumps in the road, and some high water, here we are," he said.

Pool acknowledged that passing a new middle school bond issue on the heels of a failed attempt took teamwork.

"I have had the opportunity to be a part of a team that has worked so hard to achieve a common goal; for those of you who have had similar experiences you know that your teammates become people that you will never forget, and many of them become personal friends," Pool said.

He then acknowledged by name or position on the team the many people who worked to help make the dream of a new middle school campus a reality.

Anthony Dorotik, a former ECISD board president who served as co-chairman of the Facilities Advisory Committee, spoke to the audience seated in the cafeteria.

"I would like to thank our superintendent, administrators and school board members who presented the need for debate concerning the middle school and other facilities. They made the right decision by involving the community in this process," Dorotik said.

"The key to the committee's success was that, despite this issue being a hot topic for so long, committee members kept an open mind as they worked through the process.

"I wish the staff and students of El Campo Middle School every success in the future. May you find within these walls opportunity, hope and success," Dorotik concluded.

"Lots of people, including many of you here today, have sacrificed either personally, professionally or both to ensure that this community and the residents of the El Campo ISD have a facility that will not only meet the educational needs of our middle school today, but also those students we will serve during the first half of the 21st century," Judy Waligura, president of the El Campo ISD Board of Trustees, said.

Waligura also complimented the ECMS faculty and staff for making the move from the old facility to the new in basically one weekend. "This middle school faculty and their families should probably be in the Guinness Book of Records for moving an entire school in a weekend. We applaud their hard work and dedication."

Last day of classes at the old middle school was Friday, Feb. 8. Instruction began at the new school Monday, Feb. 11.

After a power point presentation showing the audience pictures of the security system, life skills class, the drama department class (the Black Box) located at the back of the stage in the cafeteria, the high visibility features of the architectural design and other features, the audience was invited to tour the school. Members of the Junior National Honor Society and the ECMS Student Council served as tour guides.

DOORS OPEN WIDE

The new El Campo Middle

School on FM 2765 held its first open house Sunday to allow public tours of the campus. The event marked the completion of an effort

started November 2003.