New-look Roosevelt Elementary opening its doors next week
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- An undated exterior photo of the rebuilt Roosevelt Elementary School in Washington Terrace.
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- An undated interior photo at the rebuilt Roosevelt Elementary School in Washington Terrace.
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- An undated interior photo at the rebuilt Roosevelt Elementary School in Washington Terrace.
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- An undated interior photo at the rebuilt Roosevelt Elementary School in Washington Terrace.
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- An undated exterior playground photo at the rebuilt Roosevelt Elementary School in Washington Terrace.
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- An undated exterior playground photo at the rebuilt Roosevelt Elementary School in Washington Terrace.
WASHINGTON TERRACE — With the start of the 2025-26 school year on Tuesday, a longtime Weber School District institution will officially begin its second life following a full rebuild.
After a reconstruction process that was hindered by rising costs, necessitating the use of a $52 million lease revenue bond in 2023 for completion, the new and improved Roosevelt Elementary will welcome roughly 400 students to its classrooms, following a year in which students attended neighboring schools. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Monday following back-to-school night.
“It’s a totally different feel when you walk into this new building,” Weber School District Public Information and Safety Officer Lane Findlay told the Standard-Examiner. “It’s just welcoming, inviting. They’ve done a wonderful job with the color schemes, and I think you’ll see, as everyone comes back, this incredible excitement to be in a brand new modern building that has all the luxuries with the latest technology.”
That includes air conditioning, which the previous building did not have. Roosevelt Elementary was originally built with six classrooms in 1957, and while additions were made over the ensuing years, its student body had long since outgrown the structure.
According to Findlay, the “open” floor plan of the new Roosevelt Elementary is similar to that of West Haven’s Haven Bay Elementary, which opened its doors in 2024. The 105,000-square-foot facility cost approximately $46 million to build; the remainder of the bond was used to complete work on the district’s other new schools.
The new building will also feature an array of safety and security upgrades in keeping with legislative mandates via House Bills 40 and 84.
“With this new build, we’ll have all of the state requirements when it comes to, for example, security film, security glass on the building,” Findlay said. “We’ll have panic alert devices in place as well.”
The new school won’t function solely as a learning center for children — it will also serve as a hub for area residents via a new community room.
“The community will be able to utilize the room for public meetings and different things,” Findlay said. “That’s one feature that I think will be a real benefit to Washington Terrace and the community — to have a space there within the building that’s accessible for different events and community activities.”
Roosevelt’s new building was vandalized in June, and while that resulted in additional costs, it ultimately did not affect the timeline for occupancy. Findlay said that teachers began setting up their classrooms last week; any outstanding construction will occur alongside the school’s regular operations.
