“The Hawley staff and students are very excited to finally have a place where children can eat with their peers as a grade level,” said Hawley Principal Jo-Ann Peters on Tuesday, August 31.

The finishing touches for the new café, which space was once a spare gym and before that the main gym in the school, came together within the final days before the 2010-2011 school year began. The centerpieces were provided by the school PTA, and design features were created by Hawley art teacher Vicky Sheskin.

Ms Peters said the café will provide the first opportunity in many years for students to eat outside of their classrooms with students in other classes, “probably since Hawley was a high school back in 1921.”

“But one of the things we tried to do, is make sure our children see this not as a typical cafeteria, but that of a café,” said Ms Peters, sitting just in front of the “Mary Hawley Café” sign painted on the back wall of the new room of the elementary school. “A place where they can come enjoy the company of their peers, and have a nice luncheon where there is good conversation.”

The creation of the café began as an idea about seven to eight years ago, according to Ms Peters, and this year Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson approached her with the idea of creating a cafeteria at Hawley.

“At that point in time I was a bit surprised to hear that that was back on the plate, but also delighted,” Ms Peters said.

Planning committee members Ms Peters, lead teacher Chris Breyan, Deb Cowden, Bridget McSweeney, Emily Smith, Mike Wight, and Sam Haber, Decorating Committee Chair Ms Sheskin, and parent volunteers Kris Cotton, Ann Hitchcock, and Paula Brinkman helped the café transform from the former gym into a cafeteria before school began on Wednesday, September 1.

“I insisted on round tables to encourage a positive experience in the café,” said Ms Peters. “It is much more conducive to conversation.”

The planning and decorating committees came together during the spring to put the plans together, and work was underway throughout the summer to build the cafe, which will be utilized by Chartwells, the Newtown Public Schools food service provider.

Along with the painted sign for the café, a tree was also painted on the back wall of the room. The tree is a rendition of the new Core Character Attributes tree as created by the district’s Character Development Committee of the Strategic Plan.

“It took some combined ingenuity and combined effort to see what that space could be,” said Dr Robinson.

She credited school district Facility Director Gino Faiella with starting the process to look for solutions in building the space.

Ms Peters said more information is available at the school’s website, www.newtown.k12.ct.us/has, on the history behind the café and photos are also available from the work completed over the summer on the site.

Ms Peters said the creation of the café was possible due to the Mary Hawley Fund for the school left by town benefactress Mary Hawley.

Adding later, Ms Peters said, “The amount of work that really took place on the part of the custodial staff and the maintenance staff, and [Mr Faiella] did an amazing job working with us, and really all the people we contracted outside with to do the awning, to do the sign, and to do the tree really worked within a short period of time.”

Parents are being urged to sign up for a café prepay option to keep the school lunch line moving faster. Students will also line up to select their lunch items in line, and seating in the café will be assigned for the start of the school year to take away any nervousness students might have.