Founded: 1973
District: North Kansas City, MO
First Article about New Mark as it was about to open
The $3.7 million New Mark Junior High School will open to 1,000 students next week after years of construction.
Design and equipment for the school at 106th and North Oak Trafficway, was planned by a committee of local teachers.
Decorated in bright yellow, orange, green and blue, it features piped-in music and carpeting in every room except the gymnasiums.
Principal will be Art Pfaff, who last year was assistant principal at Oak Park High School, and has been with the North Kansas City District 21 years.
New Mark will be the first junior high school in the district to use an open classroom design.
In the major classrooms, one group of desks faces each wall. Moveable cabinets can divide the spaces to provide enough privacy for a dozen students who need extra help, Pfaff pointed out.
High noise areas, such as music, speech and foreign language classes, are all self-contained.
Setting island-like in the center of the home economics and science class areas are windowed rooms which house four teacher offices.
Only 50 feet from the English-social studies rooms for each grade is the library, where the main feature is individual study carrels.
These will permit students to use individual viewers or head sets, although they will do this in groups and not on free time, Pfaff pointed out.
"I want you to emphasize that there will be no modular scheduling; junior high school students aren't quite ready for that," Pfaff said. "They'll be under supervision at all times."
A huge foyer supported by columns will serve as the dining area, Pfaff said, but the foldable tables will be removed for special events.
To one side of the dining hall, electrically controlled metal gates close off the spacious kitchen. In the future, meals will be prepared there for new schools that grow up around New Mark.
Service will be cafeteria style. All dishes and eating utensils will be disposable, and will be compacted and removed with the garbage each day.
Eighth graders will learn about "the world of manufacturing," Pfaff continued.
"They will learn about virtually every phase of mass production," he said. "They'll hear speakers representing both labor and management, and then they'll make a product and sell it- a school-related Junior Achievement."
The staff will include a large number of native Northlanders.
North Kansas City High School graduates teaching at New Mark include Jim Willis, wrestling coach; Cheryl Albertson, Art; Vicki Jackson, common learning (English and social studies); Denis Krahne, Dewey Brumfield, and Janet Geary, math.
Oak Park graduates coming to New Mark are Del Sutton, vocal music; Jeff Wolverton, football coach; and Vickie Fanska, math.