PENN LAIRD - Anyone familiar with Rockingham County's elementary schools will feel right at home in its latest addition - Cub Run Elementary.
That's because Cub Run is the fifth elementary school the county has built based on the same prototype, said Steve Reid, director of maintenance for Rockingham County Schools. The other schools are South River, Peak View, Mountain View and Lacey Spring.
Cub Run, located next to Montevideo Middle School in Penn Laird, will open in the fall with about 523 students.
It is the largest of the five elementary schools, with about 100,000 square feet and capacity for 800 students.
Students who will attend the school in the fall will get a sneak peek of the building on May 23, when they are given a tour of the $16.6 million structure. Cub Run will relieve overcrowding at neighboring elementary schools, school officials have said.
Many Features The Same
Walking into Cub Run, built by Nielsen Construction Co., is basically like walking into any of the other schools constructed according to the prototype.
It has a spacious foyer awash in natural light that pours down from skylights in the ceiling. The administrative office is to the immediate right with windows looking out into the hall.
The halls are wide with ceramic tiles about halfway up the walls. In the main corridor, the tiles are white and maroon, the school's primary color, and down other corridors, the tiles are white and yellow, green or blue.
The different colors "help identify the rooms. It makes it easier for the young kids to understand," Reid said.
Like the other elementary schools, Cub Run features a bus canopy, spacious library and a double-sided stage accessible from the gymnasium or cafeteria.
"It's a good design," Reid said. "It's very functional. We feel good about it."
Some New Features, Too
While many features of Cub Run mimic those in the other schools, it includes a few new features that make it more high-tech and safer, officials say.
The first difference is a second door to the administration office inside the school's main entryway. The door
is a safety feature that requires visitors to go through the office to enter the school, Reid said.
"The front entrance is a big change," he said. "Guests actually have to physically come through the office and be met by someone. It's security ... a sign of the times."
Other new security features include a motion-sensor camera system and fewer exterior doors that can be opened from the outside with keys.
In addition to the security upgrades, every room in Cub Run will be equipped with motion-sensor lights that shut off when no one is in the room, interactive touch screens and LCD projectors.
"There will be no TVs in this building," Reid said. "All [videos] will projected through the projectors."
Contact Jenny Jones at 574-6286 or jjones@dnronline.com
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