Kids & Family

Brooks Pledges $30K to Kittredge Gym

The gift will help close a funding gap for the Town Meeting-approved addition.

The tireless effort to have a gym at Kittredge Elementary School got a little boost this week.

Brooks Academy has pledged $30,000 to the gym project -- $10,000 this year and $10,000 for the next two years.

"That’s certainly going to help the gymnasium project," Superintendent Kevin Hutchinson said at Wednesday School Committee meeting as he was announcing the donation.

Town Meeting approved funding for the new gym, estimated at about $900,000, but it turns out that's not enough to include hardwood flooring, basketball hoops, and wall padding.

Find out what's happening in North Andoverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"Unfortunately, due to an increase in the cost of building supplies from the time the project was spearheaded to present, we are at a deficit to support a fully appointed gymnasium for our students," Kittredge School Principal Richard Cushing said in a letter to parents seeking donations in the fall.

The PTO has held events to raise money and has had an ongoing fundraising drive. They've even taken it online, with a CrowdRise page. On that page, they've raised more than $2,000.

Find out what's happening in North Andoverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Currently North Andover's oldest open school, Kittredge is the only school without a gym. The hundreds of students attending the school must have physical education in the same place they eat, an area the school calls the "cafegymatorium."


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