BUTLER TWP — The classroom of social studies teacher Chris Rock was draped in flags Monday as the former junior high teacher readied his room at Butler Intermediate High School for the first day of school.

Rock, who graduated from Butler in 1998 and has spent the past decade teaching at the district's junior high, wasn't the only person getting a feel for his new school.

The last of three open houses for intermediate students and parents, Monday saw throngs of people touring the halls of the renovated building.

If most of them are like Rock, who teaches seventh grade, they are impressed with what teachers called a summertime filled with logistical challenges for administrators and staffers.

“I think it's been pretty much flawless,” Rock said of the district's building consolidation. “I think it's a positive change academically, and the kids seem excited about it.”

Mary Beth Brink, an emotional support and special education teacher, said she sees nervousness from students but attributes that to beginning-of-the-year jitters.

Brink said a more prevalent emotion among the faculty is enthusiasm, which she attributes in part to teachers from the junior high school.

“I think the enthusiasm from the junior high staff is contagious,” she said.

When classes begin on Sept. 8, the school will be a much different place than it was last year — for both teachers and students.

Principal Stephen Dobransky said about 1,550 students are enrolled for the 2015-16 school year, about 550 more than last year, after the district's building consolidation moved the sophomore class to Butler High School and brought seventh and eighth graders to the intermediate building.

The changes shipped about half of the building's teachers to the high school, and brought on the full junior high staff. The building now has 110 teachers.

Dobransky said the building has added two new special education rooms, two new social studies rooms, expanded its art room, and added a repurposed kitchen to its family and consumer science room.

The building now has smart boards in every room, and every computer has been upgraded, with seven mobile labs, three tablet labs and 80 new machines in the library.

“It was a huge endeavor. Most schools take years to do what Butler has accomplished in a couple months,” said Dobransky.

English teacher Melissa Mahood, who has taught at the school for 15 years, credited administrators and the building's custodial staff with what she called “a classy transition” that included personal calls to teachers walking them through shifting classroom assignments.

Mahood, who teaches ninth grade honors and gifted English classes, will be sharing her room with another teacher for the first time in her career. She said that doesn't bother her, and she's excited about incorporating the technological upgrades into her lesson plans.

“The benefits of the consolidation will far outweigh any of the inconveniences,” she said. “This change is going to be all about the student, and that's where the focus needs to be.”

Payton McKee, a seventh grader in the school's honors and gifted program, was pragmatic about the changes that will send him to the intermediate building this year rather than the district's junior high.

“I didn't really mind it because I was moving to a different building anyway,” Payton said. “Change is change.”

Payton said he likes the way the intermediate building's classrooms are organized by department rather than grade level, a layout that was confounding to some of those new to the school.

Parent Mary Jo Hindman and her ninth grade daughter, Kayla, took a moment from trying to map the student's route around the building to say they were more excited than nervous.

Kayla, who likes to draw, was looking forward to being able to select more art electives for her schedule — a possibility that will open up for her this year.

“I think it (my nervousness) will be over pretty quick,” she said.

Another parent, Sherry Montag, also said she was optimistic about the building's new configuration and the district's plan to control class sizes.

“I think it's going to work,” Montag said, “as long as the class sizes aren't going to be too big.”

Oliviah Montag, who will enter ninth grade this year, will spend one year at the intermediate building instead of two. That doesn't change anything about her jitters over being in a new building with a strange layout this year, though.

“I would have been confused anyway,” she said.

Montag's older daughter, Sarah, who is a senior, said she worries that the changes will result in crowding at the high school.

“It's just going to be a lot more (crowded) than it was last year,” she said.