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Officials celebrate a ceremonial ribbon-cutting at Mountain View Junior High in West Haven on August 15, 2024.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

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The exterior of the newly opened Mountain View Junior High; photographed August 15, 2024.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

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Parents and students tour the campus at Mountain View Junior High on August 15, 2024.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

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The gymnasium at the newly-opened Mountain View Junior High; photographed August 15, 2024.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

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Parents and students tour the campus at Mountain View Junior High on August 15, 2024.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

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A classroom at the newly-opened Mountain View Junior High; photographed on August 15, 2024.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

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The library at the newly-opened Mountain View Junior High in West Haven; photographed August 15, 2024.

Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner

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WEST HAVEN — One of three new schools in the Weber School District opened its doors to the public for the first time this week.

Mountain View Junior High, located at 2100 S. 2700 West in West Haven, held a ceremonial ribbon-cutting and open house in conjunction with its inaugural back-to-school night Thursday evening.

On hand for the festivities were parents, students, school faculty and dignitaries, including Weber School District Superintendent Gina Butters, WSD Board of Education President Paul Widdison and WSD Executive Director of Facilities and Operations Larry Hadley.

Mountain View Principal Matthew Patterson told the Standard-Examiner that the new school building — which will welcome its first students for classes Wednesday, Aug. 21, despite a construction process plagued by supply issues, labor shortages and cost escalations — will harness the power of technology.

“The building itself is technologically advanced,” Patterson said. “Teachers will actually have a laptop that will Chromecast to the large TVs that are in the school.”

Patterson also put a spotlight on the school’s “open” architecture and flow. The school features large pocket doors for classrooms and “big, collaborative spaces in the open areas” where multiple classes can combine to learn and create together.

“The idea is that we want teachers working with kids on a different level, on an intensive collaborative level,” Patterson said.

“I use this analogy all the time: we do not want to be the mall, right? The Newgate Mall, because they’re the individual boxes that are competing with each other for customers. We want to be like the super Walmart, where we’re all one. Whether buying tires or baby wipes — they’re all our kids.

“We’ve created some spaces in the school that kids can actually create, whether it’s posters or stickers or buttons or T-shirts, or they’re making videos on a green screen or GoPro cameras or access to iPads or 3D printers. We’ve made those available to all of our students,” Patterson said.

Mountain View will also be more efficient than older schools throughout the district in terms of heating and cooling and overall energy use. Also, its teal and charcoal gray/silver school colors are highlighted throughout the building’s interior and exterior.

The school’s first class figures to include approximately 815 students between grades seven, eight and nine. However, Patterson said that the building should be able to accommodate as many as 1,200 students in the future.

While Mountain View will officially open in a matter of days, determinations on when WSD’s other new schools — West Field High School and Haven Bay Elementary — will open their doors to students are still being made.

“We’re right down to the wire,” WSD spokesman Lane Findlay told the Standard-Examiner on Thursday. “Our contractors are doing everything they can to try to get these schools ready.”

West Field and Haven Bay endured issues of their own during the construction process. Findlay said the district hopes both buildings will be ready for Sept. 3 openings, but contingency plans are being discussed by officials in the event that building occupancy isn’t awarded in time.