Woodward expansion on schedule

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The expansion at Woodward Elementary School is on schedule, school officials reported Thursday.

The expansion will add a new gymnasium, eight classrooms, a music room and an art-room as well as several smaller rooms for various purposes like speech classes according to Ryan Malany, the principal at Woodward.

Ground was broken on the project on June 8, 2016, and crews from Turner Construction began work over the summer and is projected to be completed before the start of the 2017-2018 school year.

Malany said the expansion will also reconfigure the bus loop to make picking up and dropping off students easier. Malany said a staff parking lot will also be added to further alleviate traffic.

The expansion was approved by the Delaware City Schools Board of Education in Spring 2016 to accommodate moving fifth-grade students from Willis Intermediate School to all the elementary schools in the district. However, Woodward and Smith Elementary School were too small to accommodate preschool through fifth-grade and the expansions at both schools were approved.

School officials said until the expansions at Smith and Woodward finish this summer, Woodward and Smith fifth-graders will be instructed at Willis.

Malany said the eight new classes will be for the all-day preschool students and fifth graders will be moved to the current pre-school rooms. Malany added that the current gym serves double duty as both a gym and a cafeteria and said that after the expansion is completed the old gym will be fully converted to a cafeteria.

Additionally, Malany said the expansion will remove the trailers and add a playground for preschool students.

“We are very excited for what the future holds for our students,” Malany said. “Students and their families are eager to get into the new building and have a refreshed place to learn.”

A crew from Turner Construction work on the new gym at Woodward Elementary School. The current gym serves double duty as both a gym and a cafeteria and school officials said that after the expansion is completed the old gym will be fully converted to a cafeteria and the new gym will be the only gym.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/01/web1_DSC_1225.jpgA crew from Turner Construction work on the new gym at Woodward Elementary School. The current gym serves double duty as both a gym and a cafeteria and school officials said that after the expansion is completed the old gym will be fully converted to a cafeteria and the new gym will be the only gym.

A crew from Turner Construction install new doors at the connection between the expansion and the old section of the elementary school. The expansion extends from the school’s north side into what used to be educational trailers and temperary classrooms.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/01/web1_DSC_1216.jpgA crew from Turner Construction install new doors at the connection between the expansion and the old section of the elementary school. The expansion extends from the school’s north side into what used to be educational trailers and temperary classrooms.

The view of a hall inside the new expansion, facing south where students currently study. The hall with the 10 new classrooms is on the right and extends west.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/01/web1_DSC_1229.jpgThe view of a hall inside the new expansion, facing south where students currently study. The hall with the 10 new classrooms is on the right and extends west.

By Glenn Battishill

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

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