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"Construction Makes Everything Super!"

Teachers, parents and students at Carroll Manor Elementary School in Adamstown repeat that mantra when ongoing construction of the school's new addition becomes difficult to ignore.

The slogan (referencing the initials of the school — CMES) is plastered on posters all around the school, near unusable entrances, sealed hallways, temporary offices and portable classrooms. It has even been incorporated into a school song, said Principal Kevin Cuppett.

It is a reminder that construction-related inconveniences are a small price to pay to get rid of portables, crowded parking lots and lunch shifts at the school cafeteria, Cuppett said.

"Teaching is a hard enough job to do even without construction work," he said. "But my staff has been incredibly flexible and patient .... The contractor that we are working with, they've also been great."

Construction at Carroll Manor Elementary has been going on since July and will continue throughout the school year. The project aims to expand and renovate the 44-year-old school, which has been over capacity for a few years, especially since the opening of new developments in the Adamstown area, said Beth Pasierb, facilities planner for Frederick County Public Schools.

As a result of the expansion the school's capacity will go up from just below 500 to 700, which in the future may help to relieve crowding in Tuscarora Elementary, Pasierb said.

The school is getting an additional wing with eight new classrooms, a sleek new façade, new administrative office spaces, as well as two art rooms, a music room and an additional pre-kindergarten classroom. Parking and playground space is also getting expanded and the school will get a special playground designed for students in the countywide Challenges program, which is based at Carroll Manor Elementary and serves students with disabilities aged 6 to 11.

The new space and improvements were badly needed at Carroll Manor Elementary, which started the school year at 111 percent of enrollment capacity and with six portable classrooms.

Due to the lack of space for all students in the school cafeteria for example, students at the school have to eat lunch in six shifts.

The school also has been using a converted tractor shed as a classroom. The room, which was once designed to hold mowers and other outdoor equipment, is located at the back of the school building and is used for small-group interventions.

"It is the nicest tractor shed that you've ever seen, but it's still a tractor shed," Cuppett said.

Parking has also been a huge problem, partly because of the Challenges program, that is based at the school. The program requires a greater number of teachers per child. As a result, Carroll Manor actually has a greater number of staff than many other elementary schools, Cuppett said.

"We were crowded on a daily basis," he said.

So, when classes and construction work started together this year, there were mixed feelings among both staff and parents.

"We knew there were going to be inconveniences," Cuppett said.

To ensure that students would be safe and separated from the construction, many areas around the school had to be blocked off. In the first few weeks of school, construction crews hit a sheet of rock as they were digging to lay the foundation for the new classroom wing, and that was not easy on teachers and students.

"It was pretty loud in some classrooms," he said.

But now the project is moving ahead. One of the school's new parking lots is almost finished and the new modern entrance of the school is already taking shape.

"It is nice to see the new parking lot," said Mary Atwell, PTA president at Carroll Manor Elementary. "And it will be nice to see the kids out of the portables."

Atwell, who has two third-grade boys in the school, said that except for the lack of a playground, her boys don't seem to mind the construction work at the school.

"There isn't much for them to do in recess," she said.

For the most part now parents are just waiting for construction to be finished.

"I think we are just holding our breath and waiting because in the end it is going to be great," Atwell said.

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.