New school year brings fresh look to classrooms

By CANDY BROOKS Wednesday August 20, 2014 10:27 AM

When they started school Monday, Aug. 18, students and staff members at three Worthington elementary schools were greeted with new floors, carpets and bright splashes of new paint on the walls.

As part of about $3-million worth of facilities improvements completed over the summer, the interiors at Evening Street, Brookside and Worthington Hills elementary schools were remodeled.

Old tile floors, some of them containing asbestos, were torn up and replaced with a combination of wood-grain vinyl flooring and colorful carpet tiles. Every classroom received a coat of paint.

At Evening Street, each classroom got at least one brightly covered wall to match its door frame. Some are purple, some orange, some bright green.

"It's so nice when you walk down the hall and see the doorways that are so bright and colorful," Evening Street principal Mary Rykowski said.

Teachers added their own touches with painted or refinished cabinets. One classroom even had new seat cushions in a bright matching fabric.

"I think they did an awesome job with all the painting," Evening Street librarian Sharon Strock said.

Because everything had to be removed from classrooms and libraries, it all was cleaned or replaced.

"There's no dust on those books," Strock said. "It's an exciting way to start the new year."

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New school year brings fresh look to classrooms