BRUNSWICK — If the hallway windows on the new wings of Kidder and Crestview elementary schools look particularly clean, it’s because they haven’t been installed yet.

School board members and administrators learned that and several other lessons when they toured the additions Monday.

Brunswick Schools administrators and school board members tour the new 4,600-square-foot gymnasium at Crestview Elementary School on Monday. (GAZETTE PHOTO BY JENNIFER PIGNOLET)

A school bus took the group from the high school stadium, which is also undergoing renovations, to Kidder and Crestview for the first tour of the buildings, where work is scheduled to be completed Aug. 1.

The $24 million project, paid for with sales tax dollars, enlarges five of the district’s seven elementary schools and Visintainer Middle School.

Superintendent Mike Mayell said the tour was limited to the two schools because the other elementary additions are mirror images of Crestview and Kidder.

The project began after the state mandated all-day kindergarten and the district received a one-year waiver on the policy until it could add classrooms for the extra students. The state reversed its decision, but the school board decided to use the classrooms for their original intention and offer all-day kindergarten.

With electrical wiring still hanging from the ceiling, board members oohed and aahed as they explored the buildings, some of them expressing wishes to go back to school or teaching just to use the rooms themselves.

Board President Lisa Durichko said she was most impressed with the size of the additions, particularly the 39,994-square-foot extension at Kidder.

“I felt like I was on a mini-campus,” Durichko said.

The new wing connects to the existing building with two glass-window-lined vestibules.

With 10 new classrooms, Kidder will house all the preschool classes in the district as well as space for all-day kindergarten.

Crestview’s 14,019-square-foot addition features a 4,600-square-foot gymnasium, a media center, a music room, one new classroom and a new playground.

“I think it’s exciting,” Durichko said. “I am really looking forward to the first day next year.”

The $4.7 million stadium renovation, which is part of the $24 million project total, includes new 5,000-seat home bleachers, locker rooms, restrooms, concessions, storage, an eight-lane track, field turf, renovated visitor’s side bleachers, parking lot replacement and six tennis courts.

Mayell said the stadium project is scheduled to complete just before the first home football game in August.

Contact Jennifer Pignolet at (330) 721-4063 or jpignolet@medina-gazette.com.

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