Delta's new elementary ready for fall students

A blue hallway border will lead visitors Sunday through the shining corridors of Delta's new elementary school, which smells of fresh paint and new carpeting.

Aside from putting up door signs and moving in desks and computers, the school is ready for students after a year of construction, superintendent Nate Crowden said.

While students will not attend the school until the fall, the district will hold a grand opening Sunday. The event starts at 2 p.m. and will feature a ribbon cutting and dedication of the building named after longtime educator Pat Dooley.

"We are very excited," said Mary Livingston, elementary principal.

The 34,000-square-foot building is the result of a $2.6 million bond issue passed by district voters in August 2008. The entrance of the school faces south toward the back of the high school.

Dedication ceremonies and an open house at the new Pat Dooley Elementary Building for the Delta School District will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. (Fred Lynch)

The kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school includes a gym, a kitchen and 15 classrooms. Crowden said the library is about three times larger than the current library, which is housed in a classroom.

One of the biggest perks, Livingston said, will be the capacity for new technology.

"Technologically there's no comparison," she said.

There will be smartboards in every classroom paid for through district stimulus funds, Crowden said. Teachers currently share portable smartboards. The special education classroom includes a kitchen, washer and dryer to teach skills for independent living.

Livingston said teachers are eager to get settled into the new facilities.

"End of school is always a busy time, but this one even more so," she said.

She said the current elementary school was built in 1957. It is on Route N, more than three miles from the high school. The schools share four teachers and other resources, including food, Crowden said.

"Being on one campus is going to save us money," he said.

Construction of baseball and softball fields behind the school is underway. The fields, which were not part of the bond proposal, will also centralize school activities. Baseball games are currently played at the elementary school while softball games are held at the Delta park.

Crowden said a building committee of community members helped guide the project from start to finish. They lobbied for votes before the bond election and helped monitor progress during construction.

After the end of the school year, the final move of desks and computers can begin, Crowden said.

"Some of the stuff we can't do until school's out," he said.

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