LANGHORNE, PA —The Neshaminy School District has broken ground on a new $51 million elementary school.
School officials and board members attended a groundbreaking ceremony recently on the Maple Point property in Middletown Township. Watch the ceremony below.
The new school will replace the aging Pearl S. Buck Elementary School in the township's Levittown section, said Chris Stanley, the district's community relations coordinator.
Sitework is well underway at Maple Point with the area being fenced off and staging work having begun next to Maple Point Middle School, Stanley said. Work on the expanded parking lot to serve the new building is planned for this summer.
Construction can begin is expected to begin shortly with the completion of the new school sometime in August 2024. School officials have targeted its opening for the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
"This project is the latest part of the years-long Neshaminy Road Map plan to update existing school buildings and replace others to meet the comfort, safety, and educational needs of our students now and into the future," school officials said.
The new school will accommodate up to 900 students and will include modern features such as grade-level pods, an expanded Library Media Center with a maker space, and energy-efficient HVAC and lighting systems.
The school will replace Pearl S. Buck Elementary School in Levittown, which opened in 1968 and has not been significantly renovated or upgraded since that time, Stanley said.
The new school does not have a name yet.
Stanley said that a preliminary discussion of possible names for the new elementary school is taking place in Facilities and Planning Committee meetings.
Among the suggestions were Luxembourg Elementary, Core Creek Elementary, and Maple Point Elementary. None of these generated much support and the discussion will continue at future meetings, Stanley said.
A survey was sent to Pearl S. Buck Elementary School families and staff seeking suggestions.
Stanley said the groundbreaking ceremony last Thursday included current school board members and former ones who were involved with conceiving and planning the project.
Substitute Superintendent Jason Bowman was among the attendees.
Among those attending were: Kelly Kozic, the district's director of human resources; Michelle Burkholder, director of elementary education; Kevin Kane, director of pupil services; school board members Carlos Rodriguez, John Allen, Kellen Sporny, Cyndi Bowman, Alicia Lafferty, and School Board President Tina Hollenbach.
Former school board members Stephen Pirritano and Irene Boyle also attended the ceremony along with Business Administrator Don Irwin.
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