Everything new as South Salem Elementary opens

Outside the new South Salem Elementary School, parents and school bus drivers dropped off students for the first day of classes.

They carefully navigated past a rocky stretch onto unmarked pavement and past a crew of construction vehicles, which hovered where the athletic fields eventually will sit.

Inside, the school is nearly pristine, save for some dust in the door jams, boxes needing to be unpacked and a few incomplete areas. There are fresh white walls. Nearly everything is new.

While there’s still some work to be done before officials can declare the $17 million project done, more than 400 students and their teachers went back to school Tuesday morning without incident.

“We don’t have a gym yet,” teacher Darlene Marshall told her fifth-grade class, explaining students will use the school’s meeting room until the gym is ready. “We’re just going to make it work.”

Outside her classroom’s window there are remnants of what was up until recently an active construction site.

Work on the new school to replace the aging and cramped old South Salem Elementary started in May 2012. The old school, which was originally intended as a fallout shelter, was about 50 years old.

The old building had a curved shape, which was problematic, making it difficult to see down hallways and limiting classroom space.

One of Marshall’s fifth-grade students Aaliyah Wilson, 10, answered immediately when queried on how the two schools were different.

“It has stairs,” she said, before giving the question some more thought. “It’s much bigger. It’s new.”

The new building is 88,000 square feet, compared with the old building’s 52,000 square feet.

First-grade teacher Bronwyn Thomas said she’s thankful for the new space.

“We lived in such tight quarters so long, we didn’t know what it could be like,” she said.

The school also has brand-new furniture and state of the art equipment.

“Everything is so new, you don’t have to touch anything,” Thomas said.

The lights are automatic. They come on once someone walks into a room. The sinks as well as the paper towel and soap dispensers, which are on the outside of the bathrooms, also use sensors to activate.

Thomas said she plans to do a lesson with her students on all that’s new in the school, something that was a common sight Tuesday morning.

Lines of students snaked through the building as teachers showed them where new bathrooms were located and gave them a peek of the new media center and cafeteria.

The neat rows of students wandering the halls is something that couldn’t even be seen in the old school given the line of sight difficulties with the curved shape.

But the new setup will take a little getting used to as teachers settle into their new spaces.

“I still don’t have the routine,” Thomas said. “Last year I could put my hands on anything with my eyes closed.”

Officials expect the remaining work on the building to be completed in the next several months. Some items will even be finished this weekend.

Assistant Superintendent Mike Bryant said on Saturday the parking lot will get another layer of asphalt and hopefully striping, weather permitting. The gym floor installation was set to start Tuesday. The gym, which did have painted walls and installed basketball hoops, is expected to be finished in October.

Bryant said sprinklers for the athletic fields will also be installed this week. The area will later be graded and seeded, but won’t likely be completed until November.

“We’re glad to be open” Bryant said.

While Salem students returned to classes Tuesday, Montgomery County students will follow suit today, becoming the last in the region to return to school. Students there will also be greeted by new construction when Blacksburg and Auburn high schools open for classes today.

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