(Editor\u2019s note: Today continues The Daily Herald\u2019s annual series of top local stories for the year.)
\nSt. Matthew\u2019s Elementary School went through some major changes this year.
\nThe major renovation also included the addition of a wing connecting the school to the church.
\nWhile most of the noticeable changes took place this year the renovation process actually began in 2002 and visions for the project date back as far as 1995.
\n\u201cWe had a great need for increased parking and up to date facilities,\u201d said Father Joseph Orr of the project.
\nThe project included renovations and an addition to update the school and church parish and to expand parking and other facilities.
\nThe new addition between the church and the school includes a gathering space, parish offices, preschool, a library and conference room and bathrooms.
\nThe school building was completely renovated and was stripped down to the bricks. A brand new roof along with new windows, doors and heating and electrical systems were installed.
\nA new security system was also installed, including cameras at the entrance and magnetic locks.
\nFather Orr said the idea was to make the facility \u201cmore hospitable,\u201d so a decision was made to make the entry way into the church \u201csomething attractive.\u201d Orr said the concept was to make it \u201csomething that would make people feel at ease and welcome.\u201d
\nThe entrance to the school was also relocated to the parking lot side of the building.
\nIt features an overhang where buses can drop students off. The parking lot was also extended all the way to the new rectory.
\nOrr said the project was made possible by a former student, Leonard Zanghi, who had been a student at the school some 80 years ago and had remembered the parish and school \u201cthat gave him a good start in life.\u201d
\nWith summer coming to an end, construction at St. Matthew\u2019s was also winding down, but not in time for school.
\nThe start of school for St. Matthew\u2019s students was pushed back a week, to early September, this year due to delays in construction.
\nThroughout the past year, while construction of the new school was being completed, St. Matthew\u2019s students met at the Tyrone Area Elementary School for class.
\nThe St. Matthew Catholic Church and school family are very appreciative of the Tyrone Area School Board, Dr. William Miller and staff, and everyone else who helped throughout the year, for their generosity in providing the facilities for this past school year.
\nBesides the new school building, St. Matthew\u2019s students also met another change this year with new school principal Nancy Fransisco taking the reins.
\nFransisco comes to the school, bringing 35 years of teaching experience along with her principal\u2019s certificate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Editor\u2019s note: Today continues The Daily Herald\u2019s annual series of top local stories for the year.) St. Matthew\u2019s Elementary School went through some major changes this year. The major renovation also included the addition of a wing connecting the school to the church. While most of the noticeable changes took place this year the renovation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area","category-excerpts-from-the-tyrone-daily-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}