State College School Ground Breakings
By: Adam Paluka
Updated: June 14, 2010
FERGUSON TOWNSHIP, CENTRE COUNTY - Shovels hit the dirt in Centre County Monday morning. The State College Area School District broke ground on two new elementary school projects. These new projects come three years after the district had to scrap a $100 million renovation of its high school buildings because of public outcry.
District leaders have decided to overhaul Ferguson Township Elementary School and construct another building next to Mount Nittany Middle School from the ground up that would house students from Panorama and Boalsburg Elementary Schools; all this while SACASD figures out the next step for its high school building project.
After eight years of waiting Charlotte Zmyslo's excited to break ground.
“Oh, extremely so, our classrooms are very small. Most especially in the original building, it was built seventy years ago,” Zmyslo, the Principal of Ferguson Township Elementary, said.
A $16 million addition to that school, as well as a renovation to the original building is scheduled to open in 2011, but what about the buildings that have been at the heart of the district's facilities debate?
“The high school is something that is a great need and we are going to be addressing that I hope very shortly, or at least getting back to that process. But even while we are talking about the high school we are going to be looking at what other needs we have. We have other elementary schools, ten in total so we have lots of work that needs to be done,” Ann McGlaughlin, SCASD Board President, said.
Consultants and residents determined, because of a number of factors, Ferguson Township would be expanded and Boalsburg Elementary and Panorama Elementary would move into a new building first.
“This emerged from a discussion from the district wide facilities master plan, so that was a broad based community dialogue that went one for about nine months. The different projects were identified and emerged priority wise from that process,” Superintendent Dr. Richard Mextorf said.
District leaders agreed sooner rather than later they will be holding a similar ceremony at the high school campus. For now, they will celebrate the beginning of a new era for students in Boalsburg and Ferguson Township.
These projects are considered phase one of the district's building plan. In the coming months, decide whether to renovate or replace other elementary schools or move on to the high school.
To see the district’s plans for these two construction projects, click here: http://www.scasd.org/24971078122629893/site/default.asp
District leaders have decided to overhaul Ferguson Township Elementary School and construct another building next to Mount Nittany Middle School from the ground up that would house students from Panorama and Boalsburg Elementary Schools; all this while SACASD figures out the next step for its high school building project.
After eight years of waiting Charlotte Zmyslo's excited to break ground.
“Oh, extremely so, our classrooms are very small. Most especially in the original building, it was built seventy years ago,” Zmyslo, the Principal of Ferguson Township Elementary, said.
A $16 million addition to that school, as well as a renovation to the original building is scheduled to open in 2011, but what about the buildings that have been at the heart of the district's facilities debate?
“The high school is something that is a great need and we are going to be addressing that I hope very shortly, or at least getting back to that process. But even while we are talking about the high school we are going to be looking at what other needs we have. We have other elementary schools, ten in total so we have lots of work that needs to be done,” Ann McGlaughlin, SCASD Board President, said.
Consultants and residents determined, because of a number of factors, Ferguson Township would be expanded and Boalsburg Elementary and Panorama Elementary would move into a new building first.
“This emerged from a discussion from the district wide facilities master plan, so that was a broad based community dialogue that went one for about nine months. The different projects were identified and emerged priority wise from that process,” Superintendent Dr. Richard Mextorf said.
District leaders agreed sooner rather than later they will be holding a similar ceremony at the high school campus. For now, they will celebrate the beginning of a new era for students in Boalsburg and Ferguson Township.
These projects are considered phase one of the district's building plan. In the coming months, decide whether to renovate or replace other elementary schools or move on to the high school.
To see the district’s plans for these two construction projects, click here: http://www.scasd.org/24971078122629893/site/default.asp
