The school will join the former sister schools of Houserville Elementary and Lemont Elementary.

“The new school unites kindergarten through fifth-grade students from the former Lemont and Houserville Elementary,” said Little. “The new building has a standalone gym equipped with a fullsized basketball court. The new building also has a standalone kitchen and cafeteria. The new library has been designed to hold more than 16,000 books. The new building will house the bell, from the bell tower at Lemont Elementary.”

Overall, the footprint of the school is 71,000 square-feet with more than 28 classrooms, said Little. He said the new building features several “small group instruction” spaces designed for classroom breakout sessions. He said combining the school should help the district be much more efficient.

“The previous buildings had served the district well beyond 50 years. From an operational standpoint we’ll be much more efficient in managing one facility over the previous two buildings. The new building includes solar panels, high efficiency boilers, reduced water usage and improved natural lighting throughout the space. Our staff and students will be housed out of one facility so we’ll gain various benefits from having everyone in one location,” said Little.

He also said the school was designed to be LEED gold certified.

“The building will be equipped with solar panels that will provide a minimum of 15 percent of the electricity used by the facility. The building will significantly reduce water and energy usage when compared to similar sized facilities that do not attain LEED status,” said Little.

All this should lead to a pretty exciting time to be back to school.