by Melissa L. Gaffney, Special Writer
ALLENTOWN — A building where students will find their “true north” is almost a third complete and on schedule both from a time and financial standpoint.
That was the word last week as an architect unveiled at the Upper Freehold Regional school board meeting a compass rose theme and color scheme for the district’s new middle school, which is expected to open on Breza Road in 2010.
The $50 million project was approved by voters through referendums passed during 2004 and 2007. The 118-acre site will accommodate a two-story, 134,000-square-foot building.
District officials said, at this point, costs are on the mark, if not lower than expected.
The firm Faridy Veisz Fraytak, with offices in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, was hired to design the building, and began the process during 2007.
”I know what we’ve envisioned is going to be exceptional,” David Fraytak, president of FVF, said at the April 15 school board meeting .
District Business Administrator Diana Schiraldi said the project is about 31 percent complete, a progress of more than 10 percent having been made since this past February. August 2010 is still the expected completion date, officials added.
School board President Joseph M. Stampe said the gymnasium and the first part of the academic wing are completely enclosed. Notably, he said, the weather has not affected the building’s progress.
”In this bad weather, the masons are actually working inside the walls,” Mr. Stampe said.
The building itself could be completely enclosed by September, he added.
”The progress is moving so quickly that they’re actually starting the exterior brick of the building on the back of the gymnasium,” he said.
The new school will not only provide fifth- through eighth-graders with educational opportunities, but with something even more important: space. Mr. Stampe said the building will be able to accommodate the 600 students that will occupy it come September 2010, and there also will be room for growth.
The building’s symbolic theme will be a compass rose, the figure on most maps that displays the orientation of cardinal directions. Mr. Fraytak said that theme will be incorporated both inside and outside the middle school.
Elaborate compass roses will be placed on the floor at both the school’s main entrance and the student entrance. Less detailed compass patterns will be at the entrances to the gymnasium and auditorium. In addition, the simplest compass rose pattern will be placed in corridors and at stair towers, Mr. Fraytak explained.
He noted that a “progressive configuration” of a more graphic compass rose will highlight the cafeteria.
The compass is something Superintendent Richard Fitzpatrick said would be significant on many levels. Dr. Fitzpatrick said the theme represents students finding their “true north,” navigating their destiny and achieving a personal best.
”When students spend a third of their waking hours in a facility, you want to make certain that building conveys the spirit of a total commitment to them as individuals and somehow supports all aspects of learning,” he said. “That’s what we tried to do.”
Middle School Principal Mark Guterl said the compass rose theme is one that will hopefully set students in the right direction as they enter high school and beyond.
During the board meeting, Mr. Fraytak presented swatches of color, as well as floor and carpet samples, that will be used in the new middle school. Color palettes included light and dark blues, greens, grays and, for certain rooms, red and black, which Mr. Fraytak said would provide a sense of school spirit.
Red and black are the district’s colors, and spaces set to incorporate those colors include the auditorium, with a capacity of about 630 people, and the gymnasium, Mr. Fraytak added.
Construction and color swatches aside, the next step is to name the building, officials said. Ms. Schiraldi said a naming committee will be formed as the project progresses. The committee will be composed of two members from the Board of Education, the superintendent, the middle school principal, two teachers, two community members and a representative from the Allentown Historical Society.

