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Wood County BOE hears plans for elementary school construction

Sets Fall 2027 target date to open on Van Devender site

Pickering Associates President and CEO Ryan Taylor, left, and Civil Engineer and Assistant Project Manager Tyler Eppley spoke to the Wood County Board of Education Tuesday night about the plans for the new consolidated school being built in north Parkersburg. The pair, joined by registered architect Christopher Mancuso, said the $55 million project is set to begin construction this fall with a planned completion in 2027. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

PARKERSBURG — Engineering and architectural representatives from Pickering Associates presented information about the new school planned for the north Parkersburg area Tuesday night to the Wood County Board of Education.

“We have some great things to show you for the north end elementary school,” President and CEO Ryan Taylor said. “Tonight we want to talk about the project scope. We want to talk about the schedule, site design, floor plans, the exterior materials, we brought some samples, and then we have some renderings.”

Taylor was joined by Civil Engineer and Assistant Project Manager Tyler Eppley and registered architect Christopher Mancuso who outlined the plans for the new $55 million facility.

“This is a new pre-K through fifth elementary school,” Eppley said. “There’s approximately 500 students. The new facility is going to be about 55,000 square feet, with the majority being a single story and one two-story wing.”

He said the facility will be built on the 10-acre site where the old Lincoln Elementary, being used as a warehouse, and Van Devender Middle School are located and will feature a modern design, with a focus on traffic flow and safety. He said the site plan includes three main drop-off locations — one for pre-K and kindergarten, one for older students and a dedicated bus drop-off area.

Eppley said the goal of the traffic flow design is to maximize stacking and efficiency for the drop-off process, separating the different age groups to improve safety and traffic management.

“The biggest intent is to make sure that we have the longest loop possible for the largest drop off location, which is going to be the grades one through five,” he said. “And so with this, maximum stacking.”

Mancuso said the exterior of the building will be constructed using masonry, with a focus on blending the building into the surrounding neighborhood.

“There’s a lot of different options that we can go with, and we’ve kind of landed on this brownish, kind of dark gray, (and this) is going to be sort of the base of the building,” he said.

Mancuso said the stacked design planned will not only improve the building’s structural integrity but also streamline the construction process.

“We’ve done a really good job and come up with the design,” he said. “That second floor plan is basically going to stack directly over that first floor so the walls are going to line up, the restrooms are going to line up, the classrooms are going to line up.”

Mancuso said the new elementary will feature a gymnasium, cafeteria and outdoor play areas with individual doors connected to classrooms. He said the gymnasium, in particular, has been designed to serve the broader community, with the ability to be accessed separately from the rest of the school. He said the cafeteria was also a focus of their community designs.

“The cafeteria is going to have a lot of open windows and open space to look out on that big open lawn in the field,” Mancuso said. “And we’ve lined this up really nicely so that it is very close to the gym for those after-school events. The rest of the facility can actually be locked down at specific areas so that the cafeteria and gymnasium can be open after hours.”

Eppley said there is a a 22-month construction period planned with things beginning this fall. “We’re looking to commence in the fall of ’25 for construction, and the target open date is fall of ’27.” he said.

By targeting a fall 2027 opening, the district hopes the new school will be ready to welcome students for the 2027-2028 academic year, providing the Parkersburg community with a modern, efficient and state-of-the-art educational facility.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com

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