Five of Six Muncie Schools Under Renovation near "Substantial Completion" Status

MUNCIE, IN - A six-school facilities renovation project that originated in 2003 when the Muncie Community Schools Board of School Trustees approved a long-range strategic plan including a comprehensive study of every facility within Muncie Community Schools, nears completion in five of the six buildings.  

All instructional areas at North View and Mitchell elementary schools are occupied and are nearing what contractors term “substantial completion.” In a facilities report to the Board of School Trustees Tuesday, Beth Ann Gibson, Construction Control, Inc., and manager for the MCS multi-facilities project, explained that “substantially complete” means that all construction is complete and all (reconstructed) areas of the building are occupied.  

In recent years, North View Elementary, built in 1962, had to utilize a temporary modular unit to house fourth and fifth grade students and two specials classes. All students are now housed inside the school facility and art and music classrooms are no longer held in the modular unit.  Flooring material and bleachers have been installed in the new gymnasium and it was first used for physical educational instruction last week. The school’s expansion includes a new gymnasium, a remodeled cafeteria and kitchen, a media center, and two new kindergarten classrooms.  

Mitchell Elementary has become a full-service school for the first time since 1964 when the school was built. Recent additions to the 43-year-old building include a separate gymnasium, cafeteria, remodeled kitchen, and new media center. At Mitchell, construction is substantially complete “except for installation of the gymnasium flooring and bleachers,” according to Mitchell Elementary Principal Cindy Iavagnilio. Floor installation will be started as early as next week and should be completed by the end of December. All instructional areas at Mitchell are presently occupied.  

Certain instructional wings at West View and Longfellow elementary schools remain under reconstruction and until those areas are completed, the schools’ gymnasium continues to be utilized for classroom purposes. It is anticipated that by the end of December, temporary wall structures in the two gyms will be dismantled and the space will be used for its original physical education purposes. 

Central High School, as well as Longfellow Elementary and West View Elementary, all share the common “substantial completion” date of December 31, 2007. The most extensive areas of renovations at CHS – the art and science areas - will be re-occupied by the end of December. The art areas will be occupied the week after Thanksgiving Break and the science areas will be ready for classroom use following Christmas Break.   

Southside High School has a completion date of December 1, 2008. Work continues on the south end of the building including entrance areas as outside lighting nears completion, according to Mrs. Gibson. Another group of students will occupy the transitional building over Christmas Break while those unoccupied classroom areas undergo renovation. 

The current enrollment of 3,353 students in the combined six schools and their combined staffs of 359 will soon see the “light at the end of the tunnel.” As the dust settles, there is air conditioning as well as heat, new classrooms, state-of-the-art media centers, separate music and art classrooms, and ultimately, all of the Muncie Community Schools’ educational facilities become full-service schools to best meet the educational needs of its 7,400+ students. 

Source: Muncie Community Schools
 

Technorati Tags: Local News Cindy Iavagnilio Delaware County Education MCS - Central High School MCS - Longfellow Elementary MCS - Mitchell Elementary MCS - North View Elementary MCS - Southside High School MCS West View Elementary Muncie Muncie Community Schools - MCS

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