Wreckers started knocking down the original, 63-year-old building at Youth's Benefit Elementary in Fallston this past weekend, as the first phase of constructing a new school is on track to open for the start of the 2016-17 school year Aug. 25.
"It will be ready for them, come the first day of school," Chuck Grebe, assistant supervisor of planning and construction for HCPS and the project manager for the Youth's Benefit replacement, said Monday.
With about five weeks to go, workers are putting the finishing touches on the new building for kindergartners and first and second-graders.
Meanwhile, third, fourth and fifth-graders will continue be housed in a separate building on the Fallston campus until the final phase of the $37.1 million replacement school is completed in time for the 2017-18 school year next August.
When fully completed, the new school will have nearly 150,000 square feet of space and capacity for 1,130 students, with all students from kindergarten through fifth grade and faculty and staff housed under one roof. About 1,041 students were enrolled at YBES during the 2014-15 school year.
"It's going to be beautiful, we can't wait," Beth Poggioli, a former vice president of the Youth's Benefit PTA, said Monday. All three of her children have gone through Youth's Benefit, with her youngest daughter completing the fifth grade in June.
The Fallston community spent nearly 20 years working to get a new school built, citing concerns about leaky roofs, septic system issues, overcrowded classrooms and even water contaminated with lead.
"There's generations that have gone through the primary building, so it is a bit bittersweet," Poggioli said of the demolition of the first of two buildings, which was completed in 1953. "But, we are excited for the one-school facility with drinkable water and sufficient instructional space for our large school community of almost 1,000 5-to-10-year-olds."
The primary grades' section is two stories, and the new section for intermediate grades that will be completed next year will be one story, according to Grebe.
Demolition of the old primary building started Saturday, Grebe said. School system staff took any materials they could use from the building, and then it went through an asbestos abatement before demolition started.
Grebe said "anything with asbestos," such as floor tiles, was removed.
Workers are currently using a machine to tear down the structure. Bricks and steel have been removed and separated for recycling, Grebe said.
It should take two to three weeks to complete the demolition, according to Grebe.
Workers will spend the upcoming school year paving the section of a bus loop serving the primary grades' facility and building the intermediate grades' section, Grebe said.
He said the current intermediate building, completed in 1973, "will remain an active school while we're constructing the new single-story portion."
The construction site will be fenced off to avoid disruption of school operations, with entrances dedicated for construction vehicles, the same procedure when the primary section was being built, Grebe said.
Grebe said after the intermediate building is completed next summer, the new bus loop will then be completed – one bus loop will serve the entire building – and the former intermediate building will be demolished.
Youth's Benefit parents who plan to visit the school to register their children for next year should call 410-638-4190 to make an appointment while construction wraps up, according to a post on the HCPS Instagram page.