The Whitehall-Coplay (Pennsylvania) School District is preparing to open the newly finished Gockley Elementary School.
The Lehigh Valley News reports that the two-story, 93,000-square-foot building in Whitehall will be the new home for the district's kindergarten and first-grade students. It is replacing the old Gockley Elementary School, which was built in 1978.
Planning for the transition began in 2016, but the project was delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Construction finally began in April 2022.
The district has outgrown the old Gockley Elementary, especially after launching full-day kindergarten classes.
“We did have a lot of instruction — it was small-group instruction with math and reading interventions — that was actually happening in the hallways because there were no classroom spaces available,” Principal Denise Saylor said.
The new Gockley Elementary not only has more classrooms, but each room is larger, giving students more room to spread out. The new building also comes with a technology upgrade.
Another new addition, a STEM education room attached to the library, will enable the school to offer weekly science, technology, engineering and math classes focused on hands-on projects.
