Arbor Hill Elementary School gets a 21st-century facelift

When Arbor Hill Elementary School opened in 1973, the Cold War was at its most frigid, the Evel Knievel stunt cycle was a hot toy and open classrooms were popular in the United States.

Thirty-seven years later, the Soviet Union and Evel Knievel (both man and toy) are gone. Arbor Hill Elementary’s unique school-without-walls style also is a thing of the past, but the school will reopen this September with a host of improvements and upgrades that bring it into the 21^st century.

Students and staff of Arbor Hill Elementary have spent the last two years in temporary space at the former Philip Schuyler Elementary School while their Arbor Drive home underwent a massive transformation.

The changes were part of the school district’s decade-long project to rebuild or renovate all 14 elementary and middle-school buildings – a project that will be complete when Arbor Hill Elementary moves back home in late summer.

The school’s extensive facelift included converting the original open-classroom design to individual classrooms, each with new doors, walls, windows, floors, ceilings, lighting, paint, student desks, student chairs and white boards.

New floors have replaced carpeting in every classroom. Hallways and ramps have new rubber floors, and the gym floor was replaced with a new, cushioned-wood floor. Also new are the media center/library and art room.

Then there’s the up-to-the-minute technology.

By the fall, Arbor Hill Elementary will have two mobile SMART Boards and 180 new personal computers, including three in each classroom, 17 in the new media center/library and 24 in the computer lab.

The building also will have seven 40” LCD televisions that can be connected to PCs to serve as large-screen displays.

Behind-the-scenes upgrades include heating, cooling and ventilation systems, and, like every other school, the building will be fully wired to meet the demands of its new technology.

Students also will be able to walk to school across a new pedestrian bridge that will span Manning Boulevard and link the school to Skyline Apartments and Lark Street.