'Crunch Time' For Peabody Welch Elementary School Construction On Eve Of New Academic Year

PEABODY, MA — Work is on track for teachers and students to return to the Welch Elementary School for the first days of school over the next two weeks following a 15-month renovation to update the 50-year-old building and classrooms.

School Committee member Beverley Ann Griffin Dunne told the committee on Tuesday night that extra crews have been put in amid "crunch time" to get the building ready in time for the return of teachers and staff next week, and students after Labor Day.

"Right now everything looks like it's going to be on time," she said. "Students and teachers will be in the classrooms for the start of the year."

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She said there are "small, last minute things" that are being completed in the classrooms that are "nothing major" while some exterior work remains because of weather and supply-chain delays this summer.

"I know that they are very upset because they want everybody to see a beautiful, shining new building on the first day of school," she said. "But that work is being completed. Hopefully, it will all be done by the first day of school. But if not it will be a few more days."

She said phase 1 of the project, which broke ground in June 2022 with state School Building Authority matching funds, included the classroom improvements and phase 2 included the exterior work. Phase 3, involving a new gymnasium, was not set to be done in September and is ongoing, while she said some paving work will also be completed in the spring.

Superintendent Josh Vadala told the School Committee on Tuesday that he expects the certificate of occupancy to be in place by Friday, with teachers allowed in the building Monday ahead of Tuesday's orientation.

"This is very exciting," Dunne said. "I think you will be really pleased with what you see next week."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)