Update from the Building Committee Summer 2009 We hope this update finds you happy, healthy and enjoying your summer vacation. Things have been very busy at school. The renovation project is steadily underway, and much has been accomplished since school let out in June. If you were able to peek behind the barricades you would see the tremendous amount of work that has been done. What was the sandwich shop kitchen, the maintenance office, the shop, and the corridor leading out to the courtyard in the basement have been entirely demolished to make room for the new  spacious meeting room that will be ready by the time school begins. The rooms in the basement were filled in and are now level with the corridor.  In addition, a new boys toilet room is also being created in the basement. The old room-sized boilers have been removed from the sub-basement and replaced by two "water-tank-sized" ones located in a penthouse on the roof.  The contractors are busy installing the pipes and ducts for the new HVAC system with plumbing and electrical work taking place all over the building to accommodate the new system.  The work on the fourth floor is well underway. Most notably, the interior staircase that went from the third to the fourth floor has been removed entirely and a new floor will be infilled.  A new roof is being constructed to extend the west stairway to the 4th floor - that stairway will also lead out to the playground.  You can really see the new spaces taking shape as framing has begun in the classrooms and other rooms in the new junior high space. The transformation to the school is going to be amazing. To see more pictures of the project in progress, click this gallery link. We look forward to seeing you and showing off your new school in September. Have a great rest of the summer. Best regards, Alina Cowden, Building Committee Chair Mieko Yoshida, Operations and Facilities Director