New Weber County middle school welcomes students for the first time ever
Aug 21, 2024, 12:57 PM | Updated: 1:40 pm
WEST HAVEN, Weber County — Weber School District students took on their first day of school Wednesday, and some of them were the first students the school building had ever seen.
Three new schools were debuted by the district, actually, but only one of them was finished with construction on time: Mountain View Junior High. The other two, West Field High and West Haven Elementary, are working around construction delays.
It is an exciting day for Matthew Patterson, principal of Mountain View Junior High, who has spent around the last year and a half without teachers or students getting ready to open the school building.
“I love the junior high. The junior high’s amazing. The kids are a ton of fun. They’re still excitable. They still like to hear from you. Love to build relationships with teachers,” Patterson said.
Patterson said a lot of detailed planning went into getting it ready for students and teachers.
“Everything from the audio enhancement to the lanyards around their neck. Deciding what kind of technology to use … We gotta feed ’em. We gotta make sure their school’s cleaned. We were involved in that process of hiring every single one of those almost 400 interviews over the course of the year,” he said.
Welcoming in the new students who will be starting as Mavericks, the school’s mascot, makes it totally worth it.
Weber County School District welcomed students in its newest school, Mountain View Junior High. Two other schools are set to open in coming weeks. (Karah Brackin, KSL TV)
This marks a first for the district having three new schools open in the same timeframe according to Lane Findlay, Weber School District’s community relations and safety specialist.
He said the new schools are being built out of necessity for a growing population and overcrowding in existing schools.
“We’re gonna start with about 800 students opening and a lot of excitement this morning,” Findlay said.
The new school was a sea of teal and grey Wednesday.
“Yesterday there was a group of them ready here the day before. Little seventh graders! I was like, ‘Hey guys, what you doing waiting in line for, like, a concert or something?’ They were like ‘Oh yeah! We’re totally waiting in line!’ I mean this is the last day of summer vacation and you’re here at the school? They’re like, ‘Yeah! We’re super excited to be here!'” Patterson said.
Findlay said as part of a partnership with the city of West Haven, at Mountain View Junior High, there are two gyms so they can also house community and recreational programs.
Haven Bay Elementary students started Wednesday at Hooper and Kanesville Elementary schools until the new one is ready to go. The hope for West Field High is still that the building will be ready for students and teachers on September 3.
