I was at the public town hall meeting in April 2015 announcing the demolition plans for Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School.

There was plenty of enthusiasm after the School Board unanimously voted the month before to award the demolition contract to ARC Abatement 1. Attendees were told the new school would open in August 2017.

School Board Member Albert Burl closed the public meeting by saying the next public gathering would be at the school’s ground breaking.

Things almost went according to plan.

ARC Abatement 1 fell behind on the demolition, pushing back the construction timeline and now plans call for the school’s reopening with students to take place in January 2018.

Another public town hall meeting took place Wednesday. Although sparsely attended, those at the LaPlace library were certainly interested in the details surrounding a new Lake Pontchartrain Elementary School.

Principal Jason Beber and the rest of the staff and students at Lake Pontchartrain Elementary certainly represent the most enthusiastic contingent salivating over a new, permanent home.

When asked during this week’s town hall if he had anything to say about the process, Beber simply offered, “Let’s get the hammers out. Let’s get this thing built.”

It’s a pretty reasonable sentiment considering the school’s normal site, which sits on U.S. 51, has been lifeless since Hurricane Isaac struck in 2012. Today, the LPE community of kindergarten through eighth grade students and staff members is located in a temporary site at the rear of East St. John Elementary.

Beber was effusive in his praise after Wednesday’s public meeting when he told me about the school’s students and staff members.

He credited the students for showing huge gains through increasing their 2015 Performance Score by 15 points in evaluations released in December. The performance raised the school’s ranking from a “D” to a “C” school.

Beber said the growth would surely continue when students have a place to permanently call their own. On simple things, he said it would be easier for students to no longer have to button up on cold days when changing classrooms because the new construction calls for one single-story building housing everyone instead of the hodgepodge format students deal with now on the temporary site.

There is a lot to get excited about with the new school, which will be constructed on essentially the same site in the same footprint as the previous school. It will be elevated above base flood elevation, meaning it won’t flood with another Hurricane Isaac.

The building is roughly 95,000 square feet and will be capable of housing 800 students, organized into teaching groups or pods, ranging from head start, prekindergarten, kindergarten and first through eighth grades. Special education classrooms are planned, along with two science labs, a computer lab, a media center library, an art lab, a drama classroom, a band room and separate age-appropriate playgrounds outside each of the areas where the students are located.

The new building will include structural steel framing with brick and metal wall panels. Two circular driveways are going to be built, one for buses, another for cars so students don’t have to cross in front of the buses. A school gymnasium is part of the project near the school’s athletic fields, all situated on the approximate 22-acre site.

“The gym is designed to seat 400 people,” architect Z. Ames Yeates said. “It’s designed for high school basketball so all the dimensions can serve high school games, competitions and tournaments. We feel strongly that a gym is important to the learning process. Kids need to burn off steam, and we think it’s real important that a gym be provided.”

The plans are promising, and it’s nice to have a timeline in place. However, after four years of waiting and with another two years more planned, it’s time to finally see some construction.

Pile driving ended this week. Prep for the foundation is scheduled next.

Stephen Hemelt is publisher and editor of L’OBSERVATEUR. He can be reached at 985-652-9545 or stephen.hemelt@lobservateur.com.