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Beavercreek preschool building opens

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BEAVERCREEK — The Beavercreek City School District officially opened its new preschool building Wednesday afternoon. The new 18,500-square-foot building, which sits adjacent to the district’s administrative offices at 3038 Kemp Road, will soon house up to 288 young students.

A fresh paint job, clean hallways, a gym area, nine new-smelling classrooms, a special reading tower and shiny outdoor play equipment – all paid for by a portion of a $5 million surplus from the district’s 2008 $84 million building improvements bond issue – sit poised and waiting for those young hands and feet to get there next week. Soon those young learners will be all over those features, making them their own.

“This is a phenomenal facility,” Beavercreek City Schools Superintendent Bill McGlothlin said to attendees at the building’s opening ceremony Wednesday. “It’s absolutely beautiful. It’s state of the art. It’s very unique. You will see unique things as you tour … that you will not see in other schools.”

McGlothlin pointed out the child-level windows in the building as one notable feature.

“All the windows are low,” he said. “We have small children here, so the windows are low. That’s just one of the unique features that we have.”

The facility’s classrooms feature plenty of natural light, high ceilings and large sliding glass doors that could allow a teacher to expand the classroom as needed. Just across the hallway from each of the classrooms is access to the central outdoor courtyard area, which houses a variety of play areas for kids.

“The outdoor courtyard or classroom provides so much more than a traditional playground, which … are nice, but they’re mostly good for large muscle play,” preschool teacher Leah Mosser said. “Ours is a place where children can ride trikes. This improves bilateral coordination, which increases reading and writing ability. Children can actually get dirty and dig. They can transport rocks and wood in wheelbarrows to build forts. We’re going to grow flowers and food and watch the changes daily. This is much more purposeful than just reading about it in a book or solely using an app on a computer.”

The new facility allows the district to move away from holding preschool classes at Parkwood Elementary, where some classes were forced to meet in modular learning units because of space constraints at the school.

“[The units were] not a safe place for our kids to be,” McGlothlin said. “We now have all of our children in safe, secure school buildings.”

Beavercreek’s new 18,500-square-foot preschool building, which sits adjacent to the district’s administrative offices at 3038 Kemp Road, will soon house up to 288 young students.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2015/08/web1_preschool1.jpgBeavercreek’s new 18,500-square-foot preschool building, which sits adjacent to the district’s administrative offices at 3038 Kemp Road, will soon house up to 288 young students. Nathan Pilling | Greene County News

A young child plays in the preschool’s outdoor courtyard area.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2015/08/web1_preschool2.jpgA young child plays in the preschool’s outdoor courtyard area. Nathan Pilling | Greene County News

Beavercreek City Schools Superintendent Bill McGlothlin speaks at the preschool opening ceremony Wednesday.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2015/08/web1_preschool3.jpgBeavercreek City Schools Superintendent Bill McGlothlin speaks at the preschool opening ceremony Wednesday. Nathan Pilling | Greene County News

One of the new classrooms in the facility.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2015/08/web1_preschool4.jpgOne of the new classrooms in the facility. Nathan Pilling | Greene County News

By Nathan Pilling

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Reach Nathan Pilling at 937-502-4498 or on Twitter @XDGNatePilling.