By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - They finished on time and under budget.
Administrators, teachers, board members, parents and community members celebrated the completion of the $14.4 million renovations to the districts three buildings, Monday evening at Brandywine Middle/High School.
The district approved a reduced facilities renovation bond in 2003.
Rider also thanked the staff and students for putting up with the construction, especially those at the middle/high school who often had to move classrooms and put up with construction during the school day.
Improvements to the 44-year-old middle/high school included updating of the science labs which now have modern equipment. The water system has been made safe, allowing the students to drink water from the drinking fountains, rather than bottled water. The school is also better ventilated.
Other improvements include new carpeting, brighter lighting, larger windows, handicapped-accessible restrooms and a brighter looking media center.
Rider said it's great what has been done so far in the district with the renovations, but as they continue to look around the buildings there is more work to be done.
The work we have currently done is a great jump start and we can't stop here, Rider added.
The Brandywine system has done a great job of maintaing its buildings and you would never know how old the buildings are. The updates to the science and computer labs are great and the updates will likely attract people to the school, Sather added.
Brandywine Middle/School students Jasmine and Ambrosia Neldon said they absolutely love the renovations to the school.
Jasmine added that the students seem to actually enjoy coming to school now.
Curran added the renovations have done two things. The first being they have created a better environment for the students of Brandywine to learn in and second they have created a better teaching environment for the staff of the district.
Monday night's open house was also a chance for parents to meet Greg Jones, who was hired three weeks ago as the new middle/high school principal.
Terry and Kay Stephens, who are residents of the Brandywine district and had children who attended the schools, were impressed with what they saw Monday night.
Kay added the updates should help the students as things within the building have been cleaned and brightened up.