ARCHER HEIGHTS — Kicking off the first day of classes Tuesday at Chicago Public Schools, Mayor Rahm Emanuel helped open a new annex at Edwards Elementary on the Southwest Side.
"This building is stunning," Emanuel said of the 50,000-square-foot, $22 million addition.
"This was a highly overcrowded facility," added Forrest Claypool, chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools. "There was severe overcrowding here, so to have that relief I think is really important to the parents and the kids."
Edwards Principal Judy Sauri called it "a dream come true."
"This is a joyous day," she said.
The annex added 24 classrooms in three stories to the school, which has an enrollment Sauri set at 1,540. The addition includes a lunchroom, a kitchen and an artificial-turf field. The classrooms replaced modular units used in the past.
Edwards is one of a dozen dual-language Chicago Public Schools, and Emanuel lauded its arts-oriented curriculum, saying, "It's part of a fundamental, comprehensive education."
CPS Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson called it "one of the model schools we look to."
Emanuel also praised Ald. Edward Burke (14th), saying he was "laser focused" on arranging the financing for the project.
According to Felicia Davis, executive director of the Public Building Commission, which oversaw the project, it produced 1,800 hours of labor for local workers, with 300 people employed overall at a cost of $3.1 million in wages and benefits.
The city leaders were serenaded by the Edwards mariachi band as part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the annex Tuesday.
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