Delaware City Schools halfway through improvements

0

As several Delaware City Schools’ construction projects near a conclusion, school officials report they are roughly halfway through all of their 2013 bond-issue-funded projects.

Superintendent Paul Craft reports the district has finished about 50 percent of the overall work on many of the district’s facilities that were funded by the 2013 bond issue.

Craft said in March that work was planned at every school in district, except Willis Intermediate School, to accommodate the growth the district has experienced and to support the district’s move to teaching kindergarten through fifth grade at the elementary schools and adding sixth grade to Dempsey Middle School.

The sixth-grade wing at Dempsey Middle School is 90 percent complete, Craft said. The new wing will add 21 new learning spaces, including an auxiliary gym, art classes and science labs.

Craft said Schultz Elementary School is the first school to be 100 percent complete. Twelve rooms, an additional parking lot, an improved playground and other layout changes were all added on last year.

Conger Elementary and Carlisle Elementary are both 80 percent complete, according to Craft.

School officials report Conger received seven new classrooms and will receive an additional parking lot. Its entrance will also be reconfigured so that it faces Winter Street and improves safety for students.

The classrooms were completed before spring break and school officials said work would begin on the new entrance and the new parking lot when students returned.

At Carlisle, the new gym and 13 new classrooms are nearing completion, Craft said. The school will also receive an additional parking lot and other renovations.

Dempsey, Conger and Carlisle are projected to be completed by the start of the 2016-17 school year.

Craft said work on Hayes High School is just beginning. Crews broke ground in March for a new wing of classrooms and a performing arts area. There will also be renovations at the south academic wing basement and the old tennis court will be converted to a parking lot.

Smith and Woodward are also slated to get additions and expansions. Craft said the plan to add a gym and classrooms at Smith have just recently been approved and will be going to bid this spring. Plans for Woodward’s new classrooms and gym will go to the school board for approval this month, Craft said.

“I am confident that for the foreseeable future the district can support the growth,” Craft said.

Crews from Dunlop and Johnston work on the new auxiliary gym in the sixth-grade wing of Dempsey Middle School Thursday afternoon. The school is scheduled to be completed by the start of the 2016-17 school year.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/04/web1_Dempsey-Gym.jpgCrews from Dunlop and Johnston work on the new auxiliary gym in the sixth-grade wing of Dempsey Middle School Thursday afternoon. The school is scheduled to be completed by the start of the 2016-17 school year. Glenn Battishill | The Gazette

The sixth-grade hallway extends from the west side of Dempsey and will house 21 new spaces, including science labs and art rooms.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/04/web1_Dempsey-hall.jpgThe sixth-grade hallway extends from the west side of Dempsey and will house 21 new spaces, including science labs and art rooms. Glenn Battishill | The Gazette

By Glenn Battishill

[email protected]

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.

No posts to display