The Midvale Mustangs have a few new corrals, so to speak.

Students and teachers at the Title I school are now enjoying a four-room addition.

The $1 million expansion was added to address high enrollments at the 4-year-old school. Midvale Elementary Principal Chip Watts says there’s been a marked change in the attitude of the students in the month since Midvale’s fourth-grade and Dual Language Immersion moved from portable classrooms to the spacious classrooms inside the building.

The new rooms were completed right before Fall Recess.  Students and teachers moved into their new classrooms the day they returned from the break. 

“I think the best feedback I have received from the students is that they feel like part of the school now. When they were in the portables, they felt like they were separate from the rest of the school,” Watts said. “Teachers say they have noted a sense of community, and the feeling in the class has improved by being a part of the school.”

Watts said the addition to the Midvale school, which was the very first construction project completed with funds from the $250 million bond approved by voters in spring 2010, makes it easier for the students to access the lunchroom, restrooms, and the Brain Boosters physical education, arts and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) classes that are part of the new elementary school schedule.