A Look Inside West Side Middle School

Work continues inside West Side Middle School, where the school department took down walls and pulled out closets to create more instructional classroom space for students.

The school will have about 520 students when class begins Aug. 29, more than double last year's population of 250, Facilities Director Wes Greenleaf said.

To accommodate the changes, school maintenance staff divided the former technical education room into two classrooms, converted the school-based health center into a guidance suite, and turned two storage rooms and an office into space for remedial math instruction.

The former teacher's lounge is now the school-based health center.

Workers also made the former guidance suite a psychologist's office, turned the consumer science classroom into a seventh grade science room, and cut the art room in half to make two more classrooms.

In six weeks, West Side will also have two portable classrooms outside.

Construction crews were still finishing the front sidewalk, and a contractor is installing energy-efficient lights with automatic switches throughout the building. The lights were paid for partially by a grant from Groton Utilities.