Brand spanking new

Students of the Patterson area will be able to step into the new Patterson Junior High School on the first day of school as the finishing touches of construction are being completed by the end of the week.
“A lot of people have a lot of pride and how uplifting it has been to this (Patterson) main street,” said Leonard Armato, superintendent of St. Mary Parish School Board. Armato said that the older school building, which is over 75 years old, was becoming too much of a cost for the school board to keep repairing. The new building cost $18.5 million, has two stories and 80,000 square feet. It features 45 classrooms, a new gymnasium, cafeteria, kitchen, library, computer labs and band room.
“Huge, amazingly huge,” was the description from Marie Matthews, a seventh-grade social studies teacher. “Big enough to add more kids. Everything is brand spanking new.”
The gymnasium will not be completed when the school opens but will be completed two to three weeks after the start of the school year. One two-story, 16,800-squarefoot building at the old school will be renovated while the rest of the old school will be torn down over the next two to three years. Armato said that a deal was worked out with the City of Patterson and the gymnasium, cafeteria, and band room area of the older school will be reserved for senior citizens. Matthews said that the new school building exceeds expectations.
The 500 students who will attend the new PJHS will be separated by grade level. Sixth-graders will be housed on the first floor, seventh- and eighth-graders will have separate wings on the second floor, and fifth-graders will remain in one wing of the old school building. Orientation for students will be Wednesday and Thursday, and the first day of school for students will be Aug. 8.