Washington-Lee High's New Building to Open Today

On metal pillars in the hallway of the new building leading to the cafeteria are black-and-white photos of graduating classes. In one, from 1995, Harrick has her arm around a football player at a homecoming game. In another, taken about 25 years earlier, Tom Chisnell is in his crew uniform the year his team competed all the way to England.

Chisnell, 56, who graduated in 1969 from Washington-Lee and has taught there for 25 years, attributed some of his best memories, the type "you keep for a lifetime," to the school. The biology teacher said its graduates have included Shirley MacLaine, Warren Beatty and Sandra Bullock.

"For me it's very exciting," Chisnell said of the move. "I never imagined . . . that we would get a place like this."

As Arlington School Superintendent Robert G. Smith walked the halls yesterday, peeking into classrooms, many teachers thanked him.

"I wish I could take credit for it," he said more than once.

He stopped momentarily in the classroom of Natalie Root, who teaches an Advanced Placement course in government, as she tried to familiarize herself with the SMART Board. Her daughter had come a day earlier to help her understand the interactive white board, which has a touch-sensitive display connected to a computer and a projector.

"I'm a technophobe," joked Root, who began her career in 1977. "I'm a boomer. This doesn't come naturally to me."

Despite the expected frustrations, Root said, she knows the new capabilities will enhance her teaching.

"I think what is remarkable in these classrooms is your traditional notion of students stuck in a seat for the entire time is gone. ," she said. "I'm convinced it's going to change how we go through a daily lesson plan."

"I'm looking forward to it," she added. "I just have to get used to it."