Renovations at Jefferson give new life to the district's oldest school building

With the recent renovations completed, Jefferson Elementary begins its new life on Wednesday as a dedicated dual-immersion school. Half the students come from English-speaking households, half from Spanish-speaking households, and the school day is taught 50/50 in each language.

• Classes for all Jerome schools are underway this week. K, 6, 9, and 12th grades started on Monday, with everyone else starting on Tuesday, followed by students at Jefferson Elementary on Wednesday.
• Built in 1956, Jefferson has undergone 4 major renovations in the past.
• Additions include a new gym, converting the old gym into a cafeteria, converting the old cafeteria into a kitchen, and improvements and modernization to the classrooms.

Script from the broadcast story follows below

"We're working the finishing steps of this beautiful new gym, but we think it's going to be a fantastic facility not just for us but also the community," Angela Brulotte told me as we toured Jefferson Elementary.

It's the first day of school at Jefferson Elementary, and as students learn the ropes from their new teachers, there's some new life -- in the old building, with renovations pretty much complete.

When Brulotte began as principal here ten years ago, the school was just finishing up a renovation on the north wing.

"This building was built in 1956. It's had at least four additions made to it all at different times that's almost 70 years. This is the most significant and the most comprehensive of all of those, so this is a pretty fantastic change," Brulotte told Idaho News 6.

With the opening of Frontier Elementary last year, Jefferson will now house the district's dual immersion program, bringing in 96 kindergarten and first graders every year.

"It's pretty amazing," Brulotte said. "We've been building it over the last eight years. Our first cohort kids is now at the high school."

As part of the upgrades on campus, the old gym became the new cafeteria, the old cafeteria became the new kitchen, and a new gym and stage were added, along with upgrades to modernize the classrooms.

"There's all kinds of things that are going to allow us to do to better serve the needs of kids to help them learn into being engaged to do that with some extra space," Brulotte said.

Eventually, Jefferson will be completely packed with students speaking fluently in two languages.

"We are so grateful to the community for supporting the bond," Brulotte said. "The upgrades to this have given new life to this building, that's the oldest in the district now but feels like a brand new school in so many ways."