South Windsor Ready for More School Construction

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — South Windsor education officials on Thursday released an overview of the next wave of school construction.

Here is a look:

Eli Terry Elementary

• 66,586 square foot K-5 elementary school will be built on the Eli Terry campus.
• Construction is expected to begin in winter 2019 and be completed in summer 2020.
• Eli Terry students will remain in the original Eli Terry building while their new school is being built, and move to their new Eli Terry facility in August 2020.
• The existing Eli Terry building will be demolished during the summer of 2020.

Philip R. Smith Elementary

• 58,243 square foot K-5 elementary school will be built on the site of the existing Philip R. Smith building.
• The original Philip R. Smith building will be razed prior to construction.
• Construction is expected to begin in winter 2019 and be completed in summer 2020.
• Philip R. Smith staff and students will be temporarily relocated to the former Orchard Hill building located at 350 Foster Street until construction is complete.
• PRS staff will move to the swing space location in July 2018.
• PRS students will attend the swing space location for two school years beginning in August 2018, and remain there until the new school building opens in August 2020.
• The former Orchard Hill building will be called “Philip R. Smith School” while it is occupied by the PRS community.

In October 2013, the South Windsor Board of Education adopted an 10-year plan over three phases to address five aging elementary school buildings, which ranged in age from 51 to 63 years old.

Phase 1 ended with the opening of the new Orchard Hill School in August 2017.

Phase 2 of the plan calls for the new construction of Eli Terry and Philip R. Smith.

If approved, Phase 3 will include the construction of a new elementary school for Pleasant Valley. The phase is expected to commence in 2020.

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel