Countryside Academy will hold a ribbon cutting next week to celebrate the completion of its new elementary school building.
Countryside Lead Administrator Sarah Brookshire tells us the new 37,000 square foot facility will house all of the district’s preschool through fifth graders. The district has run out of space for the kids.
“We’ve had waiting lists for several grade levels, and we haven’t been able to expand because we’re just physically maxed out on classroom space,” Brookshire said. “So, we decided that we wanted to bring all of our kids onto one campus as well. We have our Millburg site that’s five miles away, and this is an opportunity where we could bring all of our kids on one site.”
Brookshire says the need for the project means Countryside is doing something right.
“I think it shows that Countryside is doing well with our students academically and socially and emotionally and we’re growing and there’s a demand for our programming here in the area.”
Brookshire says this new building is quite similar to the old Countryside building, which is right next door on Featherstone Road. However, the building includes a new kitchen and cafeteria so food service can be handled on site, rather than having a vendor bring in food each day.
Construction of the $9 million facility took about a year.
The ribbon cutting for the building will be next Friday at 9 a.m. with keynote speaker George McManus, a founder of Countryside. The kids will move into the building in the fall.
