BEVERLY — Construction of the new high school is moving along nicely, Marie Galinski, the Beverly superintendent, reported Wednesday to the School Committee.
The art rooms in the new building have been completed, and art classes moved in Oct. 1. The auditorium, band and music rooms were completed earlier this fall and are also being used. Most classes, however, are still being held in the old building, which opened in 1965.
The target for moving in is Thanksgiving week. To accommodate the move, students will attend school a half-day on Monday, Nov. 22, and won't return until Nov. 30.
An extra day will be added at the end of the school year to make up for the lost time.
Teachers will box up their classrooms after students leave Nov. 22 and use the next two days before Thanksgiving to move into the new building. Moving will continue after the holiday, right up until the official opening on Nov. 30.
"It's a very busy time, because we're headed toward the end, and there are a lot of details," Mayor Bill Scanlon said. "We have a time frame we're trying to hit, and I believe we will."
Scanlon said in an interview yesterday that "the whole high school project is on budget at this moment." The state is paying 56 percent, or about $45 million, of the school's $80 million price.
The city has considered building a new high school for years and finally approved money for the project in 2006. The issue came to the fore when school officials were warned that the school could lose accreditation due to the building's poor condition.
Officials from the New England Association of Schools & Colleges will visit Beverly next month, and the new school will be ready to show off, Galinski said.
"We're happy to have it ready for the November accreditation," she said.
On Monday, State Treasurer Tim Cahill will be in Beverly to present a check to the city from the Massachusetts School Building Authority for the state's share of the construction costs, school officials said. The ceremony will take place at Beverly High School at 3 p.m.
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