Students in Frederick Start School Year in New Building

For nearly 600 middle school students, the new school year at Urbana Middle School began with paint in the air, cameras on the ceiling, and unpacked boxes in the halls. "Everything is brand new, I would say everything is state of the art, we really invested in some new technology," said Principal Frank Vetter. Windsor Knolls Middle School is the school that we drew from. It really is a fine school, but they were well over capacity," said Vetter. After spending 7th grade in the overcrowded, older building, 8th grader Shawn Byrne cant help but notice the small differences. "Nice places to sit, theres no chewing gum under the desk," said Byrne. "Its a lot cleaner and everybody is surprised that everything is different than the other school," said Cara Floreske, an 8th grader. New doesnt make the first day any easier for faculty. Principal Vetter said its been his biggest challenge so far. "Bringing so many people together who dont know each other and trying to create a sense of community," said Vetter. Across the county, nearly 400 boys and girls started school in the new Middletown Primary School. "Just teaching kids new routines, new procedures, thats any school. The fact that everybody is new, even the staff teaching the new routines; its been a fun challenge," said Principal Mark Pritts. After a successful first day, the hope is these two new schools will give 65 new teachers, and close to 1000 students plenty of room to learn and even more room to grow. "If it goes as smooth as day one, day two will be great too," said Pritts. In the last decade, Frederick County schools have seen an increase of nearly 6,000 students. Reported by Cara Sinclair" Renovations at Area High School Delays New School Year,1156806313,1156806313,"JEFFERSON COUNTY, WV- Students at Jefferson High School were supposed to start school on Monday but theyre getting a few more days of summer break.