The Martha's Vineyard (Massachusetts) district is preparing to reopen the 95-year-old Tisbury School in Vineyard Haven after an $81 million upgrade of the facility.
The Vineyard Gazette reports that the renovated complex, which serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade, now has 70,000 square feet of interior space, compared with 56,000 before construction began in 2022.
The new gymnasium and band room will take a few weeks longer to complete; access to those areas will be blocked off to students until the work is done later this fall.
The reopening of the campus caps a tumultuous, 14-year quest for a better Tisbury School that began in 2011.
The original Tisbury School, built in 1929, has now been gutted; hazardous materials have been removed, and old fixtures stripped away to create spacious classrooms with high ceilings and abundant natural light from weathertight windows.
The total cost for the Tisbury School project includes $70 million for construction and more than $11 million in administrative costs, architects’ fees and other expenses.
During the two years of construction, students attended classes in temporary classrooms adjacent to their school building.
