ELYRIA – Nearly five years ago, Superintendent Paul Rigda stood inside the dark, old auditorium at Elyria High School and introduced himself as the new leader of the district.

A teacher and later administrator in the district for more than two decades, Rigda came to the high school with a long history as a Pioneer. Still, as the newly installed leader of the district, he had plans to improve Elyria. His goals were student achievement, fiscal stability, community relations and building projects.

While the first three seemed doable for the urban district, Rigda remembers the fourth producing the most skepticism.

“We said we were going to build a new high school and our critics said, ‘Paul, we have tried for 12 years and it hasn’t worked,’ ” Rigda said. “But I told them we were going to do it because we were going to change the way it is done.”

On Friday afternoon, Rigda and nearly 200 high school teachers and staffers met at the high school for another staff meeting, similar in some ways to the one five years ago. Rigda was there, as were the teachers.

The difference? Gone was the dark old auditorium. In fact, as the meeting was taking place, that auditorium was being ripped apart by a bulldozer. Rather, Rigda greeted teachers inside the state-of-the-art media center of the district’s brand-new $74 million high school that is being built on the footprint of the old high school and portions of the neighborhood that were bought and demolished to make way for an even bigger school.

The fourth of his goals was a reality that he was eager to show off to the staff.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” he said to teachers who could barely contain their excitement about the new building. “You are what it is all about and we are here because of you.”

While community and parent tours of the new building are still weeks away from being scheduled, teachers got the first official sneak peak. School is set to open on Sept. 7, the day after Labor Day, and workers are scurrying to finish in time. The teachers’ tours were conducted in the midst of ongoing construction.

Around them, construction workers painted walls, placed furniture in classrooms, installed phones and hooked up Internet service.

Not that anyone seemed to mind.

“What do you think?” building Principal Darren Conley asked the group.

The response? Cheers and applause.

“Yeah, I know,” he said. “I feel the same way. People keep asking me what I think of the building, but I’ve only been in it for an hour and 40 minutes so the most I can say is ‘Wow.’

“As soon as I saw this place, I wanted to do a ‘move this bus’ kind of moment for teachers,” Conley said, referring to the big reveal on TV’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” “But have you seen this place? We would need a battleship and move that battleship just doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

Small is not word that anyone can use to describe Elyria High. The first phase opens in less than two weeks, and the second phase is slated to open in the 2011-12 school year. Combined, they will comprise more than 300,000 square feet and stretch for two city blocks.

“It’s as close to a college campus as a high school can be,” Rigda said. “It’s the talk of the town.”

After Rigda’s pep talk, teachers set off in small groups to walk around the building.

They had to step carefully through the halls, but with color-coded maps in their hands each made their way around the academic wing.

“Did you see the courtyards?” one teacher said as she jumped from group to group not actually waiting for her peers to answer.

“Oh, my God, this is my classroom,” said another.

By the time EHS Pioneer Marching Band Director John Shepka made it to the band’s rehearsal and instructional room, he was nearly speechless.

“This is great,” he said. “My kids are going to be amazed when they see this room.”

The room was empty of chairs and music stands, but Shepka didn’t need them to know the room was miles ahead of his old room.

“Do you hear that?” he said clapping. “The acoustics in this room are amazing. This room is just acoustically well-designed.”

Drama teacher Pam Christian was equally excited about the potential of not only her new room, but the entire building.

“I already have ideas about what to do in the courtyards,” she said. “Maybe some twilight poetry readings or performances under the stars. I can’t wait to get unpacked and get in there.”

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

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