New Classrooms Added to Westside Middle School Academy

“They are on site and will be open soon,” said Superintendent Sal Pascarella. “Then we will grow over the next two years. “

The modular rooms arrived as pre-built halves that lay along the exterior of the school as crews poured the concrete foundations of the buildings. Then this week, they used a series of jacks to lift and assemble the halves of the buildings into an entirely new wing of the school.

The new space was scheduled to open the first week of October, but that could be pushed back after some issues with permits and emergency exits on the new rooms, as well as stormy weather, caused several short delays, Pascarella said.

Teams also need to build a covered walkway to connect the new wing to the main school, principal Frank Labanca said.

The nearly $ 1 million, 80 percent state-funded project was launched this spring in an attempt to alleviate a glut of students entering the district’s three colleges over the next several years.

The new modular rooms will increase Westside’s capacity to around 750 students over the next three years, up from around 600 students this year, said CFO Joe Martino.

Westside is a lottery school, so officials plan to increase the number of students sent there to more evenly distribute incoming students from already full Broadview and Park Ridge schools. Enrollments at Broadview and Park Ridge are expected to drop to 975 each once Westside classrooms fill up, Martino said.

Westside’s expansion comes just weeks after local authorities unveiled the new $ 53.3 million addition to Danbury High School, which now has 3,200 students.

The three-story complex includes science labs, more than two dozen new classrooms, several offices, space for sports coaches, additional locker rooms, and a second, smaller gymnasium that can serve as an overflow cafeteria.

zach.murdock@hearstmediact.com