ON THE MOVE Relocating pupils
UTaft Elementary School on the city's South Side will be demolished this summer and construction will begin on a new school on the same site. Taft pupils will go to Bennett Elementary School next school year and stay there for two years while the new school is built. The pupils will return to their new school when it's finished for the 2004-05 academic year.
U Children at Bennett School will go to the former Princeton Junior High School next academic year, where they will stay for at least four years. The Bennett building is slated for demolition and won't be replaced.
ULike Taft, Harding Elementary School on the city's North Side will be demolished this summer and replaced. Pupils at Harding will attend classes at the former Jefferson Elementary School and return to their new school when it's finished for the 2004-05 school year.
UThe district also is expected to break ground this fall to replace West Elementary School. Since the new school will be built on property near Schenley Park, pupils will be able to remain in West Elementary until the new building is finished for the 2004-05 school year.
UWilliamson Elementary School on the South Side is expected to be demolished in summer 2004. A new school on the same site is expected to open fall 2006. When Taft pupils leave Bennett, Williamson pupils will go to Bennett and stay until their new building is ready.
UThe situation on the East Side remains unresolved. East Middle School will be replaced. The district had planned to demolish the school at the end of this school year and construct the new facility on the same spot. That would require moving pupils somewhere else during the two years the new school is constructed. The district wants to build on property near but not on the same site. In that case, pupils could stay at East while the new school is being built.
UThe high school scenario is rather clear-cut. Construction of a new East Side High School and a major addition to Chaney High School will begin this fall and could be finished in two to three years. Chaney pupils will remain in the school during construction. Pupils at the district's two other high schools, Woodrow Wilson and The Rayen School, will remain in those schools until Chaney and the new school are finished. Wilson and Rayen then would be converted to middle schools.
U Plans call for possibly temporarily relocating pupils at Kirkmere, North and Sheridan elementary schools and Volney Rogers Junior High School while renovations and/or additions are made to those buildings.