New rooms at Broadway earn resounding ‘yes’

Peeking inside one of two newly constructed classrooms at Broadway Elementary School on Monday, Principal Eileen Utecht asked about 20 first-graders seated around small tables if they liked their new room.

“Yes!” the children squealed in unison.

“That pretty much explains it,” Utecht said. “We are all very excited.”

Monday was the first day classes were held in two classrooms built onto the hallway at the southeast corner of the school to ease crowding.

Construction began in late summer after the Central Valley School District Board of Directors voted in April to add space at the school.

The bid for the project was awarded to Associated Construction of Spokane, for $380,000. The project was paid for with interest income from the district’s capital projects fund.

“We have squeezed into every inch of available space in our building and it will be nice to have some breathing room,” Utecht said.

Broadway was originally built in 1952 for 350 students, and was last updated in 1990. A change in demographics in the neighborhood has unexpectedly caused the student population to boom. Enrollment is 358 this fall, an increase of 23 students from 2004.

“We had a number of years were we had many seniors and elderly people in the neighborhood,” Utecht said. “But they have since passed on, and with low interest rates we’ve had a number of young families move in.”

Since 2000, Utecht said, a class of students at each grade level has been added every year.

A music room and the activity room in the school were turned into classrooms. Music classes were being conducted on the stage inside the school’s gym.

With the new construction, music classes will now move into the activity room, and the music room will remain a classroom, Utecht said.

“Our hope is we can get the music room back into a music room eventually,” Utecht said. “But I’m still going to be short a little space for now.”

A storage and teacher-preparation area was also added with the new classrooms, which will also be used by various specialists. Physical therapy is being held in the hallway, and occupational therapy is held in the conference room, near the school’s main office, Utecht said.

Utecht said she was especially pleased that the new wing is brick like the old building, and blends with the structure.

“It looks like it has always been here,” she said.