New windows allow Peabody students to finally see the light

PEABODY – For the students, teachers and staff at the Center School, songs like “I Can See Clearly Now,” “Here Comes the Sun” and “Let the Sun Shine In,” have a much deeper meaning. Now that the school’s long-awaited window installation is complete, it seems people just can’t stop humming the classic tunes.Students gathered inside the gymnasium Thursday afternoon to thank special guests Mayor Michael Bonfanti, Superintendent Milt Burnett, School Committee members Beverley Ann Griffin Dunne and Ed Charest, School Business Manager Mike Musto and several others for their hard work and commitment to creating brighter, safer days for those in the building. Hand-drawn pictures of sun shining through new clean windows decorated the gym walls, each with its own personal “thank you” from the students who drew them.”Thank you for the windows! They’re awesome. I can see!!” wrote one student.”I love the new windows!” wrote another.”They are so much better than the old ones,” read one fifth grader from an essay he wrote. He continued to say that now he can see the bright green grass and cars go by. He said the new windows made the school look “more beautiful than ever before,” and the new windows even keep out bees and other insects.Center School principal Madeline Roy personally thanked the architects and engineers from Gale Associates who made the process all that much easier.”They fixed every problem we came up with,” said Roy. “I am so pleased to make a presentation to them.”Various students presented representatives from Gale, as well as elected officials, with their rendition of what the school looks like with the new windows. Charest said he plans to place his student drawing next to one his daughter made when she attended the elementary school.Roy also thanked the students and staff for their patience and flexibility.”It was a lot to put up with,” she said. “And you still did all your work despite the changes.”