Bessie Coleman Elementary Welcomes Students

About the New Building

Thanks to voters who generously approved the 2018 facilities improvement bond, major projects are happening all across the District. The bond program is now in its fourth year and  the District recently reached the milestone of opening the new Bessie Elementary School to students and staff. Formerly known as Hoover Elementary (and the 2020-21 interim name Husky Elementary), Bessie Coleman Elementary was renamed by school board resolution in September 2021. The original school was built in 1968 and was replaced with a new building on the same school campus.

• The new Bessie Coleman Elementary replaces the original 34,600 square foot school and modular classrooms that provided an additional 4,760 square feet.  The new school is 67,466 square feet and designed to serve three sections for each K-5 grade level. The new building was designed following the Corvallis School District’s Sustainability Technical Guidelines and features a number of sustainability elements that will be highlighted with signage throughout the building. High-performance heating and cooling systems, and daylighting throughout the school provide safe and comfortable learning spaces while minimizing energy use.
  
  
• While this building site is not optimal for solar generation, the 24.32-kW educational solar array will help students learn about renewable energy. The array will be connected to the District’s online energy dashboard, providing a real-world learning tool showing energy and water use of the building.
  
  
• The school includes larger classrooms for kindergarten, and 1st grade on the first floor, intermediate classrooms (grades 3,4,5) on the second floor, a dedicated music room, an art and science classroom, a dining commons that is separate from the gym, plus additional space for student support services. Interior learning spaces have easy access to outdoor learning areas including the Dixon Creek riparian zone.

Despite the serious supply chain impacts, labor shortages, and other construction challenges felt across the country, this project has stayed on schedule and opened to students and staff at the targeted date. The mid-year move—in the midst of a pandemic—was a huge undertaking and staff were provided with three additional non-student days before and after Winter Break for packing and unpacking.

What’s Happening Now

The remaining site work is on track to be completed next summer with demolition of the old building underway. District staff and contractors will be salvaging reusable and recyclable materials before demolition. Once the old building is demolished, the new playing fields, parking lot, and intersection alignment with NW Aspen Street will be completed by the end of the summer. The public can watch a live feed from webcams at the Bessie Coleman construction site at the following link: http://dwpwebcams.com/csd/

The entire school project is scheduled to be completed by next fall with a total projected cost for Bessie Coleman Elementary of $38,181,641. The site design includes a new location for the school garden, outdoor learning areas, a covered bike parking area, and enhanced pedestrian safe zones. Due to COVID-19 precautions, the school is not yet open to the public. District staff look forward to hosting a community tour of the new school later this spring.

Questions about the Corvallis School District bond program may be directed to the Facilities and Transportation Department at 541-757-5877.