Construction Nears for New Avery School, Football Field

The School Building Rehabilitation Committee has certainly got the ball rolling on the new Avery School.

After signing Consigli Construction Co. Inc. on as the construction manager for a contract of $1.9 million last month, they hired Jon Donner as the clerk of works for the construction of the new elementary school last week.

With all the pieces now in place, construction is set to begin next month. The first step will be putting up fencing around the work site next week, according to Jim Doyle, who is overseeing the construction.

Construction of the new school does present one immediate problem: the football and field hockey teams are without a home field for games.

"It's unavailable for home games, and we're still talking about letting them practice there," said Doyle.  

All of the home games have been rescheduled at other locations.

The new school will be a 61,000-square-foot building that will accommodate 310 students. It will include 14 regular education classrooms, three special education classrooms, two more for arts and music, and around a half dozen more smaller instructional spaces to be used for individual and small group instruction.

The school library will also feature a technology lab complete with 20 computers, according to an e-mail from Andy Lawler, chairman of the School Building Rehabilitation Committee.

It will cost an estimated $21.3-million to construct.

High school athletics will see a boost in facilities once construction is complete, as the football field will undergo a massive renovation.

The new Avery School will feature a high school regulation size gym for physical education classes and will also double as a practice space for the high school athletic teams. In addition to the gym, the school will be complete with outside sports fields.

As part of the high school field project, the field will be made of synthetic turf to be used for football, soccer, field hockey and lacrosse. New bleachers and a press box will also be added to the field.

Encircling the field will be a synthetic surface track for track and field purposes. The new track will be expanded up to eight lanes on one side and six on the remaining sides, according to Lawler.

The outside athletic complex is expected to be complete by July 31, 2011. The school itself is expected to be finished by March 2012 and ready for use when students return from April vacation.

Also, in an effort to save money, the committee will propose the idea of consolidating Consigli's contract for the construction of the school and the athletic complex.