DUNCAN —
This will be the last year some Marlow Elementary classrooms will be used.
The school year started for Marlow students Thursday.
And until the new elementary wing can be constructed, the school’s fifth-grade and pre-kindergarten students will continue to use classrooms that are slated to be demolished once the new one is built.
By the start of the 2013-14 school year, the fourth- and fifth-grade students will be using the main elementary wing, which was built in 1989, and was the last school building constructed on the campus.
Other students will be housed in the new wing, which will take about 18 months to be completed.
“We plan to start bidding in September,” Superintendent George Coffman said. “We want to start construction in October.”
When it’s built, the new wing will provide classrooms for the lower grades, including pre-kindergarten through third grade.
The pre-k classes are held in portable buildings that have been in use for more than 15 years. Those buildings often have a life expectancy of less than 10 years.
The new building will be about 52,650 square feet.
In the fifth grade building, which was built in 1952, students went about learning as usual when they returned to classes Thursday.
They picked up right where their fourth-grade years concluded.
Elementary Assistant Principal John Smith said Thursday was a good start to the school year and hopes the rest of the year follows suit.
“It went off without a hitch,” Smith said. “It’s amazing. It’s like they never left.”
He said the new construction, although a ways out, is important because it will help alleviate the space factor issues the school is experiencing.
Thursday morning, the school had 731 students enrolled and in its computer database. Several students hadn’t been added, which could bring the total to more than 740 elementary students, Smith said.
“We’re busting at the seams,” Smith said. ‘It will be nice when we get that new building.”
Although construction is set to begin in October, he doesn’t expect students to change classrooms during the school year. He said next year’s students will most likely be the first group to use the new building.
The elementary wing will include 32 classrooms (12 of which would be safe rooms), a media center and an administration area.
“Everyone’s looking forward to the new building,” Smith said.
Coffman had similar thoughts about the new elementary wing.
“We’re excited,” Coffman said.
Local News
Related Photos
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Marlow fifth-grade Zach Lamb and Austin Medsker start their school day in science class. Derrick Miller/The Duncan Banner
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Marlow fifth-grade teacher Darlene Black uses one of the classrooms in the Fifth Grade Building to teach science. Derrick Miller/The Duncan Banner
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