Greenacres Community Members Visit Elementary School

Renovated classroom at Greenacres.Members of the Greenacres community were invited to tour the elementary school and receive an update on the ongoing construction on 10/30. Representatives from Park East, the construction managers, said that though it looks like the workers are just “playing in the dirt,” 60% of the footings and foundation are in and steel supports will soon be going up for the addition to the school.

Principal Sharon Hill reported that the construction has not been disruptive to the kids inside the school, and credited Park East with being very communicative about any potential issues. She said, “Inside the school we are pretty much unaware of the construction.” She reported that arrival and dismissal at the two school entrances on Sage Terrace and Putnam Road has been smooth.

The district is performing daily air and noise monitoring and the results of these tests are posted on the district website. The daily reports can be found here: They are also changing the filters on the air conditioners as needed.

Asked whether more of the field will be used for staging, residents were told, “there will be an increase in the size of the staging area next summer when some of the basketball court will be used for furniture storage until the old furnishings can be put out to bid.”

Asked whether there were any surprises during construction, the construction managers revealed that they had to reroute the sanitary sewer line and that ground water was found underneath the old parking lot next to the art room. According to Matty, "The water table was a little bit higher than anticipated underneath the parking lot. This was quickly resolved with pumps and then retention basins which were installed in that location." Moisture in the basement had been reported prior to the renovation. These two changes will not increase the budget as a 5% contingency fund was built into the $34 million budget.Walltalkers are featured in each classroom instead of blackboards or bulletin boards.

This past summer some of the existing classrooms were renovated. The rooms received new flooring, paint and ceilings and the casework was removed. These renovated rooms now have large white boards, called wall talkers, on the walls and dimmable lights. Window air conditioning units have been installed in all rooms.
The visitors were taken to tour one of these renovated classrooms.

Next summer all remaining spaces and the hallways will be renovated and twelve skylights will be installed in the gym where the large windows have been covered up due to the addition. The new air ventilation equipment will also be installed in the classrooms next summer.

The windows of the gym have been covered up due to the addition.