Construction Continues At New Neshaminy Elementary School

Construction on the new elementary school in the Neshaminy School District is moving along, despite some delays.

At a tour of the new Core Creek Elementary School in Middletown Township recently, Joe Niemiec, the onsite construction manager from SitelogIQ, said that the school will now be ready by the end of the 2024 calendar year.

During the groundbreaking ceremony in April 2023, officials originally said it would be ready in time for the start of the 2024-2025 school year. 

Niemiec attributes the delay to issues with PECO regarding metering.

“Via conversations with the principal and superintendent, the idea is to hopefully by January have all the students in,” he said.

The school is being built on former athletic fields at Maple Point Middle School, and will replace the aging Pearl S. Buck Elementary School in the Twin Oaks neighborhood in Levittown. Buck opened in 1968, and has not received any major renovations in its lifetime. 

District officials gave a tour of the new school, which showed most of the basic components of the building were complete as of last month.

All exterior and most interior walls were built, windows were installed, and HVAC and lighting were present. But floor tiles, doors and drop ceilings were notably missing during the tour.

At 119,000 square feet, Core Creek will be the largest elementary school in the district. It is slightly larger than Tawanka Elementary School, which the district completed in 2016. Many of the aspects of the new school are similar to Tawanka, but Niemiec said some improvements have been made to the new school based on feedback from the district.

One improvement was on energy efficiency.

Based on feedback, the new school has “top of the line boilers and heaters,” said Niemiec. 

“By doing energy recovery, LED and occupancy sensors help keep the bills down and be as energy efficient as possible,” he added.

Niemiec also explained that the school is receiving a unique HVAC system.

“Typically you would see an RTU (rooftop unit), and then air ducts to the building which would feed hot and cold air. So the system that we are using runs off of hot and cold water, with the hot water giving you hot air and the cold water giving you cold air.” he said.

Construction on Core Creek began in the spring 2023, with the building being constructed as two halves. In recent months, the two sides have been joined via walking bridges on the second floor and a hallway named “main street” on the first floor. 

On the exterior, the school has tan walls and narrow windows that makes it blend in with the adjacent Maple Point Middle School.

The school is given a modern look with at least one window per classroom being stained glass.

Although an additional parking lot is being constructed in front of the new school, visitors and staff will be able to use the parking lots at Maple Point. A separate entrance for students was constructed on the back side of the school to allow for a more secure main entrance. The main playground will also be back here, and stairs are being built on the side of a hill to allow better access to a soccer field at the bottom of it. Kindergartners will play in their own playground on the side of the school.

Inside the school, each grade has their own “pod,” a hallway with a group of classrooms connected by a large common space for grade-wide activities.

Niemiec said the classrooms are “larger than typical” for a new school.

Throughout the tour, there was a notable color pallet of blue, green, orange, and red covering the walls and stained glass windows.

At the front of the school is a T-intersection formed by the offices, library-media center, gym and cafeteria. The gym and cafeteria are separated by a unique double sided stage that will allow the school to hold assemblies in either space.

The cafeteria utilizes an open plan, with no doors separating it from ‘main street’. A wide staircase called ‘learning steps’ is being constructed in the cafeteria that will have USB ports, power and internet “so this way teachers will be able to get students outside of the classroom so they’re not all rambunctious and crazy,” Niemiec said. 

Construction of Core Creek is being funded by $5 million in federal funds, with the rest being paid in bonds. The district projects the final cost of the school to be $51 million.

Once construction is complete, all students from Pearl Buck will move into the new school, but further redistricting will take place in the 2025-2026 school year to bring the school to an estimated 800 to 900 students.

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