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SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

The new William Fleming High School building lets in a lot of natural light.

Classes have not started yet, but instructors already rehearse with a student choir and conduct a band in the state-of-the-art classrooms and auditorium of the new William Fleming High School.

They are preparing for this week's ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"We have a hard time keeping them out," said Doris Ennis, a retired Roanoke teacher, principal and administrator who took over as Fleming's interim administrator in the wake of a testing scandal implicating Principal Susan Willis. "Students have been sneaking around."

The school expects about 200 people at the grand opening, which will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at the glass front entrance.

Billy Cannaday, a former state superintendent and current dean of the University of Virginia's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, will be the guest speaker. Mayor David Bowers and other city leaders and school board members, along with Roanoke schools Superintendent Rita Bishop, will also be present at the ceremony.

Fleming students and PTA members will conduct tours from 1 to 7 p.m. to showcase some of the features of the new school.

Some highlights:

 "For once we can get all of our students in the gym," Ennis said. The 3,000-seat gymnasium will give the entire student body of 1,560 students a space large enough to assemble for pep rallies.

"Technology is worth noticing. There are excellent tools for students," said Debbie Daniels, construction supervisor for Roanoke schools. Every classroom will offer electronic whiteboards.

Special education students will have a "Life Skills Lab" where they will learn household activities such as using a washer, dryer or stove and making a bed, Ennis said.

The building, Daniels said, was also designed for possible expansion.

"This is a 21st century state-of-the-art building," Ennis said. "It will prepare students to be competitive in a global economy."