On April 26, the Garden City School community gathered at Chester Barrows Elementary School for a ceremonial beam signing. Joining the staff and students of Garden City were Mayor Ken Hopkins and …
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On April 26, the Garden City School community gathered at Chester Barrows Elementary School for a ceremonial beam signing. Joining the staff and students of Garden City were Mayor Ken Hopkins and representatives from City Hall, Councilman Matt Reilly, School Committee Member David Alden-Sears, members of the Cranston Public Schools Central Office Leadership Team, including Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse and members of the project team from Jacobs Engineering, Dimeo Construction, and Fielding International.
Nota-Masse greeted the audience and gave some brief remarks as well as expressing her gratitude, noting that without all of the hard work of the members of the team (including the architects, engineers, school facilities and central office team) the school construction project at Garden City and those like it, would not be possible.
“First of all, l would like to thank you for taking the time to attend today’s event. So much of what goes on in building a new school happens behind the scenes and even underground. However, the steel beams, although they are eventually covered by the walls, are truly the framework of the building and ensure its strength and support. Today’s signing event shows our strength as a school district and a school community, and also shows our support for these important school construction projects,” said Nota-Masse. “I’d like to take a minute to acknowledge the voters of Cranston who overwhelmingly approved our school construction bond in November 2020, the city and members of the school committee, for their support, a huge thank you to the faculty, students and families of Garden City School, Dimeo Construction project team who have been working on this project since it began, the major trade contractors onsite so far have been Pasquazzi who did the demolition of the existing building, Catalano who’s done the sitework, Capasso who does the concrete, Northeast Steel, the steel fabricator, and HB Welding, the steel erector.”
Hopkins, who is a Garden City resident, reminded the school community that a school is not just a building, and that although it will be spectacular, it is the new friends they will make and the teachers they learn from that make up a school.
Principal Bryan Byerlee, accompanied by his four student council officers, spoke about how exciting it was to have actual components of the new building right there in front of them.
“I told students that the beams are very important because they are the bones of the school which ensure that it is structurally strong and remains standing for a very long time,” said Byerlee. “However, the beams and other materials make a building, they don’t make a school. The students, teachers and families make a school. I reminded students of the involvement they’ve had in the project all along, from participation in design meetings to designing and now testing out furniture. I said that by signing the beams, our names will forever be part of the school, and will be a reminder that our heads, hands and hearts are all coming together to build our new school.”
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