New Askew ES set to open in August

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Construction on the new Askew Elementary School is set to wrap up this quarter, with school officials making plans to move in over the summer and welcome students to the new building in August.

Site utility work and installation of external masonry and aluminum canopies is complete, and concrete walks for building access will be finished in the coming weeks. Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing overhead systems are 90 percent complete, and remaining work on interior finishes is scheduled to wrap up by the end of May.

“The building is beautiful,” Askew Principal Ebony Cumby said. “We’re all excited about the new facility and can’t wait to move in.”

Askew is one of 40 schools being rebuilt as part of HISD’s voter-approved 2012 Bond Program. Once complete, the $31 million facility will accommodate up to 850 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grades.

Pre-kindergarten through first-grade classrooms will be located on the first floor of the new building, as will the learning commons, music and theater classrooms, visual arts lab, special education department, and administrative offices. Also on the first floor are dining and multipurpose areas separated by a moveable partition.

The second floor will house second- through fifth-grade classrooms, as well as the art lab, additional administrative offices, and a computer lab that overlooks the learning commons. Hallways on both floors have alcoves that can accommodate up to 10 students for independent or small group study.

New furniture is set to be delivered to the school in June. Crews then will spend several weeks assembling and placing the pieces throughout the building. The official move from the old to the new building will take place in July.

Once the original building is vacated, it will be demolished to make room for a parking lot and new playground.

More than half of all projects in the 2012 Bond Program are already complete and open to students. Once all projects are finished, HISD will boast one of the most modern portfolios of urban high schools in the nation.

Follow @Build_HISD on Twitter for the latest updates on the 2012 Bond Program and school construction across the district.