Progress at Neshaminy High

It looks like the Neshaminy construction is moving right along.

Maybe we can strike a deal for some of those modular classrooms. We can pile them in the parking lots to replace the schools.

Progress being made at Neshaminy High School
A new science wing and a small theater room are scheduled to be done by the winter, officials said.
By RACHEL CANELLI
STAFF WRITER

Neshaminy High School finally has a front—in the back.

Two-thirds of the way into a major construction and renovation project, crews recently installed a silver name plate to the main student entrance of the Middletown high school located at the back of the building.

“We’ve never had that before,” business administrator Joseph Paradise said as he gave the newspaper an exclusive tour of the site Tuesday morning. “It’s rewarding to see the change.”

In the winter, the district celebrated some of those changes with an open house of a two-story classroom wing. A mirror image of the first classroom building is scheduled to open for students in the fall, officials said.

Besides new desks and flat screen televisions, students will sit at desks that face the front of the classroom but will have to turn around to use the computer. This way a teacher can always see what’s on the students’ screens, administrators said.

Meanwhile, workers are putting the finishing touches on two gyms, which were gutted, painted and given new floors, ceilings, lights and ventilation systems, Paradise said.

The 32 temporary modular classrooms that teachers and students used for the past two years are being dismantled. Across from that space, steel is in place for a brand new two-story science wing that should be equipped with new labs and updated tools by January, he said.

“Before, we fit what we needed into the space that we had,” Paradise said. “This is designed for our needs.”

Crews are also working on renovating the school’s circular-shaped library and replacing a small auditorium-like classroom with a similar setting.

Although there were many people who wanted the district to build a whole new school, the school board settled on 60 percent new space and the rest renovated, administrators said.

However, Paradise pointed out, that the 40 percent being updated looks brand new. But instead of being built from the ground up, it’s still on the old, but solid, foundation, said Paradise.

The project is adding more than 250,000 square feet to accommodate 2,800 students, including ninthgraders who will move there from the middle schools next year.

Also at that time, a hallway of classrooms will be demolished to make way for a road that will lead to the new student entrance. There students will use ID cards to enter, officials said.

The public will have other entrances near the new guidance area. That project should be completed by September, administrators said.

The whole $82 million project, which remains on time and on budget, is expected to be finished in September 2009. The district borrowed $77 million to fund it, Paradise said.

“[The construction] is an inconvenience, but it’s also exciting,” he said. “The board, administration, teachers, students and construction workers have come together [and cooperated] to make it work.”