Kittredge School Seeks Gym

A "cafegymatorium" might sound cool to many peope, but not to the students and staff at one local school.

Kittredge Elementary School is the only school in North Andover without a gym. But Town Manager Andrew Maylor is hoping to change that at Town Meeting.

Maylor's capital improvement plan requests the construction of a new gym for the school, to be built alongside the modular classroom buildings built three years ago.

"Currently students use the multipurpose 'cafegymatorium' when that small space is available or outside," Superintendent Kevin Hutchinson said. "However, sometimes the classroom space is also used due to weather conditions. You can easily see how these environments are restrictive to a having a quality PE experience."

The gym, has a $900,000 price tag on it. It's part of a larger capital improvement plan that includes building renovations and transforming the old police station into a school administration building.

The Finance Committee and the Board of Selectmen have voted for favorable action.

"The lack of adequate PE space has always been identified as an issue at Kittredge, and parents have been very instrumental in helping move this effort forward," Hutchinson said.

See the details of the plan here.