With the start of the 2001-2002 school year approaching, many school districts are putting the finishing touches on summer construction and the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District is no exception.

Thanks to an approximately $24 million bond issue passed by the community in 1999, there has been a great deal of construction done throughout the past year.

Two new wings, which include 18 new classrooms, will be opening at the high school. Plainview and Old Bethpage are booming and the school district needed to expand to accommodate the influx of new students. "It is a fantastic opportunity for the high school and the district to add on some new rooms and even some new science rooms," said Tom Sena, high school associate principal.

The high school population is growing. "We are going to be well above 1,400 kids in the 2001-2002 year and we were starting to run very short of space," said superintendent Dr. Martin Brooks. "We are several hundred more students than it was a few years back." Enrollment in the other grades is going up as well.

New Library Media centers have been constructed over the last year. Stratford Road Elementary School opened their new library media center at the beginning of last year and Parkway Elementary School, Pasadena Elementary School and Old Bethpage Grade School are opening next week.

"When we made the library media centers, we were able to reclaim some space and turn it into classrooms," said Brooks. "We picked up rooms at our elementary school through that."

In addition, at all of the elementary schools, the cafetorium has been expanded to provide more room for kids during performances and lunch hour.

New windows were installed at Mattlin Middle School and Old Bethpage Grade School as well as a new roof at Old Bethpage.

In additional to the two new wings at the high school, a new roof was installed and pool repairs were done. New tennis courts were installed at the high school, which replaced the old courts that had large cracks and grass growing through the courts.

Although all of the construction is expected to be done by the first day of school, Dr. Brooks expressed some concern about the work in the high school. "It is coming right down to the wire," he said. "We think that most of the big projects will be done, but one of the wings may not have all the hallway window glass."

Brooks explained that a temporary wall would be installed if need be, as was the case during the school year, to keep students and staff away from work area. Brooks and school officials anticipate that the glass would be in no later than a week or two after the school year begins.

This school year will be Brooks' second in Plainview-Old Bethpage. He started his post as superintendent on July 19, 2000, when he came from the Valley Stream Central High School - District 13.

"I enjoyed my first year very much," said Brooks. "I am very impressed with the caliber of the people who work here. We have very involved parents and terrific kids and a very education oriented board of education and it has been a real joy for me to work with all of these groups."