Starkweather Program Renamed; Fiegel Elementary Updates Completed Under Budget

Plymouth Canton School Board officials approved renaming the Starkweather Alternative Education program as "Starkweather Academy at Fiegel" during its meeting Tuesday night.

After both Starkweather and Fiegel were closed in 2012 due to downsizing, the Starkweather program, previously housed in Plymouth's Old Village, was moved to Fiegel Elementary.

Superintendent Jeremy Hughes said he recommended the action to firm up the program's official name.

"In some publications, it's called the Starkweather Adult Education Center, some places call it the Adult Community Education Center and others call it the Starkweather Alternative High school," Hughes said. "And we could find no record of it ever have been given a name, except the building in which it was located."

Hughes said the new name, the Starkweather Academy at Fiegel, both raises the academic importance of Starkweather while preserving the Fiegel name. 

By moving the alternative education program to a former elementary school, the district needed to renovate the building to offer an updated facility to offer a high school and adult program. 

Major improvements included remodeling existing kindergarten classrooms into high school science labs. Fiegel now houses one chemistry lab with an acid waste and fume hood and one biology lab. The other renovation was remodeling the teacher's lounge into toilet rooms. 

The project began last December and was completed on March 22. The district had budgeted $400,000 for the project, but spent only $348,959.57, according to Phil Freeman, assistant superintendent for facilities and operations.

"The renovations offer these students in this program a great deal of credibility," Freeman said. "We now have them in a facility that suits the program."