“I can’t wait to come here,” one youngster said to his mom as he walked out of the Neshaminy School District’s newest elementary school Thursday evening.
The feeling seemed to be similar among the hundreds of students and parents who toured the new Tawanka Elementary School on Brownsville Road in Lower Southampton. The new school will hold up to 900 students and will serve kids from Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, Lower Southampton and Middletown.
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The roughly $30 million school features a Main Street corridor and pods where each grade will have their core classes and be able to work with their grade-level peers in a common area. A state-of-the-art media center on the second floor is a focal point of the building along with a large cafetorium that can be closed off from the rest of the building for certain events.
District spokesperson Chris Stanley said the majority of the work on the energy-efficient building is complete.
“I think it’s beautiful. We’ve been driving past here and [the kids] watched it get built,” said Rachael Newbold, a mother to students who will attending the new Tawanka building.
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Acting Principal Don Palmer will be overseeing the new school and said helping make students feel comfortable in their new building. He said he is amazed with the new school.
“My favorite part is the technology built into each classroom and the library,” he said.
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New Neshaminy Superintendent Joseph Jones II stated he was excited with the building and all the opportunities it offered students. He especially liked the pods that separate the grades but added events would be held so different grade-levels could interact.
The school will open to kindergartners on August 30 and first through fourth grade students on September 1.
The opening of the school coincides with a redistricting due to the closure of Oliver Heckman Elementary School in Langhorne. The closure, along with that of Samuel Everitt Elementary School in Levittown, is part of a district-wide consolidation effort that is expected to save money.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
