Table of Contents
The need for another elementary school in the Brookland District has resulted in the planned doubling of Holladay Elementary in Lakeside – a project school system officials have dubbed "Holladay 2.0."
School Board members viewed architectural plans for the expanded school during a Feb. 28 work session. When school officials were seeking land for a new school in the district several years ago, they determined the best location for it was on land they already owned at the Holladay site. Initial plans focused on the possibility of creating two separate schools there – potentially one for kindergarten through second grade and one for third through fifth grade.
But as the process continued, officials determined that the best way to proceed would be simply to double the existing school from a capacity of 550 students to 1,100. The new version of the school will open in the fall of 2021.
Plans for the new-look Holladay call for the construction of a two-story addition adjacent to the existing facility, with 28 classrooms divided into groups of four pods, built around a new library and "learning stairs" – an open space for collaboration.
As part of the plans, a new bus loop would connect from Impala Road instead of Galaxie Road, where the current one sits, Assistant Superintendent for Operations Al Ciarochi told the School Board.
One of the first parts of the project would be to build a new cafeteria, which students would be able to use beginning in the fall of 2020 – a full year before the overall expansion project is complete, Ciarochi said.
The school would become the largest elementary school in the county. It most likely would have two assistant principals, Ciarochi said.
