By Kathy Crawford
Communications Committee Chair
Desert Ridge Community Association
On July 30th, Fireside Elementary School celebrated their opening with a dedication ceremony attended by such dignitaries as Nancy Barto, Arizona State Senator, Heather Carter, Arizona State Senator, Jim Waring, Councilman District 2. The ceremony was mastered by Drew Davis, the new school’s principal along with representatives from the Paradise Valley Unified School District: Dr. Sue Skidmore, Governing Board President, Dr. James P. Lee, Superintendent, and members of the board. Tom O’Neil, lead architect from DLR and Shawn Mauer, Core Construction were there to describe the unique design of the school.
The two-story, 88,660 sq. ft. elementary school campus is designed to be a near “net-zero” energy building, meaning it will produce nearly as much energy as it will consume resulting in low or no energy cost. The design team explored new energy efficient techniques to reach net-zero goals. Some of the major energy reduction and production features in the school include:
• Solar collection panels
• Water harvesting for irrigation
• Daylight harvesting
• Solar hot water system
• Energy efficient lighting design
• Low Flow plumbing fixtures
• High performance building envelop
All of the speakers looked to the students to welcome them as the first class of the new school. Many of these new students of the school and the new faculty were there to celebrate the new school and were among those along with Principal Davis to cut the ribbon with a resounding “Go Mustangs”!!!!
