Tulsa - Tulsa Public Schools celebrate a new building Saturday, after a week of challenging news about the district's budget.

The ribbon was cut on southwest Tulsa's new Clinton Middle School as part of a ceremonial opening.

School superintendent Dr. Keith Ballard said new building offers all the new technology that educators need to teach children.

Along with new learning tools, the school also uses a geothermal heating system.  Constant temperatures below ground help keep the building warm with a series of buried pipes.  It's expected to help save up to 15-percent on energy costs and reduce impact on the environment.

Ballard admitted that the recent bad news about district finances was on his mind despite the celebration, but said that energy-saving measures like geothermal systems could help cut waste from the budget.

"A place where we can have significant savings is energy costs.  That is an area that we are going to be looking diligently at, not only in design and retrofits, but also how we treat energy," Ballard said.

Old Clinton middle school was built in 1938 and torn down just after school started this year when it's replacement was ready.  Ballard said the new school serves as an example of how to improve other campuses and is a point of pride within the Red Fork community.

"This is more than just a new school in the southwest part of Tulsa, this is a close-knit community, and we needed to build a school here to help galvanize and bring this community together," said Ballard.

Nearly 460 students attend Clinton. The grand opening featured a short performance by the school band, and hot dogs and refreshments were also served.

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