Newton schools will start giving construction updates soon

For almost a year, the Newton Community School District has been sharing transition process updates for the configuration of the elementary buildings during every school board meeting, but now the superintendent is likely going to be sharing construction updates for the foreseeable future.

As of late the updates have been fairly light.

“The school year has started, classrooms are moved, teachers were located — things like that,” Superintendent Tom Messinger said. “Now the major part of what we’re doing is just going to be the work within the buildings. Once things start back up with the transition again we’ll go back to communicating out.”

Newton Community School District has been logging its transition process updates on its website. The updates are available in both English and Spanish. There have only been a handful of times when there were no updates to post. The district answered and posted any questions it received from the public.

Questions covered topics such as transportation, food service, the master planning process in general, preschool and enrollment boundaries. The topic that received the most questions is staffing. From February through June, the district answered 15 questions about staffing.

Currently, Aurora Heights Elementary School is closed for construction. The district will be making major changes to the elementary building, including a new addition on the north side of the building. The facade will be revamped, a new front entry will be created and bus/parent drop-off lanes will be reimagined.

From the new entry point is a secured vestibule that connects to the front office and features rooms for the principal, the nurse, the SRO and an instructional coach. On the same floor are three preschool rooms, five kindergarten rooms, a 200-seat gymnasium and restrooms. Stairwells lead up to the next floor.

The main level floor plan features five first grade rooms, four second grade rooms, four third grade rooms and four fourth grade rooms sequestered in clusters along various areas. The cafeteria, art room, music room, ESL room, media center and special education rooms are also featured on this floor.

In total, the new Aurora Heights will have a capacity of 500 students in grades K-4 and 108 students for half-day pre-K.

Thomas Jefferson Elementary School will see changes, too. Schematics show an approximately 5,200-square-foot addition would increase the school’s capacity to around 500 students. Thomas Jefferson is expected to have five sections of kindergarten and first grade and four sections of second, third and fourth grades.

Several portions of the existing building will remain untouched. For instance, there are no plans to renovate or reassign spaces like the media center, gym, art room, music room, cafeteria and kitchen. The bulk of the major renovations come in the administration suite, which would also move the entry to the building.

Reception will be directly connected to the front entrance vestibule, allowing for a more safe and secured entryway. The rest of the administration suite is composed of the nurse’s office, a flex office and the principal’s office. Architects say they also want to make the entrance more visible and inviting than it is now.

To build on that same principle, architects are proposing a soft seating area to give a warm and friendly feeling on the inside as well. This specific area will also be located next to the guidance office and the office for the school resource officer. Special education classrooms will also be renovated.

Other changes to the school affect the exterior space. Schematic designs show an expanded playground and a new parent drop-off lane on the west side of the building. The new bus drop-off will be located on the north side of the building next a new playground area. Parking capacity will be increased to 97 stalls.