Parents, teachers glimpse ongoing transformation of historic elementaries

Holy moly.

Thats what teacher Jan Cline and her colleagues said when they reached the third floor of Broadwater Elementary Tuesday afternoon.

They were among the 100 or so parents, children and district staff who toured the renovations in progress at Broadwater and McKinley schools Tuesday.

A year from now, expansions and retrofits designed to bring the historic schools into the 21st century will be complete. But the groundwork has been laid this summer, and contractors and school officials were excited to show it off.

Much of the work so far has been to the schools guts think HVAC systems and window replacements, SD2 bond project manager Lew Anderson told the groups assembled at each site.

Other improvements are in plain sight.

Cline, for instance, could see for the first time her classroom on the opposite end of the third floor at Broadwater. There, Hardy Construction crews have knocked out a small room dubbed the cloffice by school staff, yielding a spacious foyer instead of mazelike corridors.

To see that gone made me kind of emotional, Cline, a 5th grade teacher, said.

Theres much left to do at Broadwater. Concrete footings to the schools east offer just an outline of the large expansion thats to come and will provide space for the gymnasium, cafeteria and offices, according to principal Joe Halligan. Once thats finished, the annex building to the west will be demolished.

When you look in the classrooms, youll have to use your imagination, Anderson told attendees at McKinley. Classrooms in both schools, for the most part, havent been touched yet.

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Parents, teachers glimpse ongoing transformation of historic elementaries