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New Kane school is ready for first occupants |
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Written by Publisher
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Saturday, 21 November 2009 |
Photo by Ted Lutz
This is one of the classrooms in the new elementary school, which is being built adjacent to the Kane Middle School on West Hemlock Avenue. Some middle school students will be going to class in the new school in two weeks. Most middle school students won’t have classes in the new school until Jan. 4.
The new elementary school in Kane is ready for its first occupants — middle school students.
The middle school students in grades six, seven and eight will move to classrooms in the new elementary school to make way for final renovations in the middle school.
Two classrooms and the temporary nurse’s office in the middle school are scheduled to close in two weeks.
School Nurse Erin Lundeen will move into another temporary office in a conference room in the new elementary school. Classes for family and consumer science and special education also will move from the middle school to classrooms in the new building.
The second-floor classrooms in the middle school will be closed and vacated after the students begin their Christmas recess Dec. 24. When students return to class Jan. 4, they will occupy classrooms in the new elementary school, which has been built as an addition to the middle school building.
Middle school students will return to their current school building for lunch in the cafeteria, gym class, events in the auditorium, art class and visits to the library. These areas already have been renovated.
A floor-to-ceiling barrier on the first floor of the middle school will be extended in the hallway during the final renovations.
W. Wayne Adams, the project manager for ArroActiv of Altoona, oversees the renovation of the middle school as well as the remaining construction work for the new elementary school on the east side of the Kane Middle School on West Hemlock Avenue.
He said Friday that he expects the renovations at the middle school to be completed by April. He estimated that 60 percent of the renovations have been completed.
New windows for the second-floor classrooms at the middle school already have been installed. Remaining renovations include new flooring, new ceiling and newly painted walls.
Except for “a few odds and ends,” the new elementary school is virtually complete, Adams said. He estimated that the new school is 98 percent complete.
As work winds down on the construction of the new elementary school, there is a major decrease in the number of workers at the site on a daily basis.
Adams said there might be between 20 and 25 workers at the project site on any given day. During the peak of construction, between 70 and 80 workers were at the site.
A feature in the new elementary school includes cubbies and bathrooms in 10 classrooms for kindergarten and first-grade students. Students will store their coats and boots in the cubbies, which resemble lockers without doors.
Dr. Maryanne Anderson, superintendent of Kane schools, said Friday that the school construction project and the middle school renovation work are “really coming together.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said in describing the new elementary school.
Anderson also is planning to host a community-wide open house at the new school next fall.
When they return from their Christmas break, middle school students will finish out the school year in classrooms in the new elementary school. At the start of the next school year, middle school students will begin classes at the completely renovated middle school building and elementary school students will occupy the new elementary school.
The Chestnut Street Elementary School will close at the end the current school year. The Mt. Jewett Elementary School closed at the end of the 2007 school year.
The school district has not announced plans for the long-term use of these two buildings.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 December 2009 )
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