All year long students and staff have seen the construction scaffolding outside of Roosevelt School, and as the year winds down many are left wondering how much longer is the construction going to last?  With that in mind we decided to investigate and provide an update on what is actually being done with the construction, and will we still be dealing with this next year. In fact, we reached out to Mr. Gechtman who provided some insight on the continuing construction project. 

     Mr. Gechtman explained, “The new facade is up behind the scaffolding, and they have begun to paint the brickwork to match the facade.” He is very satisfied with the work being done,  and is hopeful that the scaffolding in the front of the building will be down in June before the eighth-grade graduation. Once the scaffolding is taken down in the front there are just a couple of more tweaks needed in that area and that phase of the project will be done. 

     However, work will then need to move to the side and the back of the building where the parking lot is so that everything matches with the front. Eventually, the media center and the gym will need to be worked on as well. Unfortunately, that means construction will need to continue into next year, and scaffolding will still be present on certain parts of the school.  Mr. Gechtman clearly recognized that the on-going construction has the potential to be a distraction, and he stressed that if teachers were hearing any noise during the school day they should notify the office immediately.  

     Eventually, when all the construction is complete, the next project will involve fixing the grass around the school, which has sustained significant damage. As Mr. Gechtman stated, “The grass has been destroyed by the trucks driving back and forth over it so there will need to be new topsoil and new seed placed around the building.”  Once that is done, a different type of fence will be set up around the new seed so people do not walk on it while it is trying to grow.  

     Overall we are in for a long haul because this project is very extensive and requires multiple phases. However, despite the disruption, it will all pay off in the end, and allow us to have both a beautiful and strong Roosevelt School.