After a long wait, officials will break ground next week on a new “state-of-the-art” elementary school in Bristol Township’s Croydon section.
The groundbreaking is open to the public and starts at 2:30 p.m. at the site of the former Mary Devine Elementary School on Keystone Street. The event will feature students, local officials, school district administration and the community.
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The Mary Devine groundbreaking will be the final one that is scheduled as part of the district’s elementary school overhaul plan, which will see the current nine schools close. Two 1,300-students schools in Levittown are already under construction and be nearly identical to the building planned for the Devine site.
“We are pleased to celebrate the third phase of the district’s long range facilities plan,” Superintendent Dr. Sam Lee said in a statement. “The district is building a solid educational foundation for our students that will ensure they are well prepared for the future.”
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
The former Mary Devine school was torn down earlier this year because the property only has enough room for the new building to go where the old one was. At the other two construction sites, the new schools are being built behind existing building that will be torn down later.
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Students from Lafayette, Maple Shade and Mary Devine elementary schools are expected to be in the new school by September 2016. The other two Levittown schools are projected to open by September 2016.
When the old Mary Devine building closed in June 2014, 440 students were relocated from Croydon to the first floor of the Benjamin Franklin School in Levittown in September. The building, which also currently houses the administration offices, will house Mary Devine students until construction is done on the new school.
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The Croydon school is expected to be around $39 million in construction costs.
