The entrance to the South Butler Primary Center is an artist's representation of the Brooklyn Bridge, in honor of John Roebling — the bridge's designer — who lived inSaxonburg.

JEFFERSON TWP — Students walking into the Primary School can take a walk down Winfield Lane to the third grade neighborhood.

The primary school was opened in 2002 when the South Butler School District consolidated five elementary schools into the one facility.

The building designers incorporated local history, scenes and names into the building that would make it unmistakably a building for children.

Todd O'Shell, district spokesman, said it was a challenging process to close the small schools in the outlying townships and unify the campus.

When the decision was made to bring the students to a centralized school, O'Shell said the district had more than the required public meetings to hear from residents. District officials wanted to explain the decision, which was a big change.

In addition to getting people to support the project, materials from the old schools had to be moved to the new school.

"We brought the memories and the traditions to the primary school," he said.

The building features a pod-style design that groups classrooms together by grade level and color coding. Rooms used by multiple grades are on a common corridor where the Brooklyn Bridge is rendered on a wall. The bridge was designed by John Roebling, who had lived in Saxonburg.

Now, teachers can work in grade-level teams more easily, which provides a more unified education and pools the resources of the faculty, O'Shell said.

"The staff has made this a success," he said.

The Primary School houses grades kindergarten through third and the administration offices.

There are six kindergarten classrooms, 10 classes for first through third graders, and extra support rooms in each grade level's pod.

Other features in the building are a 3,500-square-foot cafeteria and a 5,200-square-foot gym. The two large spaces are linked by a center stage.

Along the walls of the cafeteria and gym, giant silhouettes of famous Butler buildings are in bright paints. The room, with a floor that is a map of a park, can hold more than 300 students.

Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates designed the building and incorporated local history into the lobby with a simulation of the Brooklyn Bridge.The bridge draws attention to the core area of the building where classrooms for art, music and the library are.The core area rooms all have special touches. The music room, for example, is tiled to look like a keyboard. The library offices are inside a recreation of Cooper Cabin, an 1810 log home in Cabot.The school, which cost, $13.87 million, broke ground in May 2001 after the school board voted to close Clinton, Jefferson, Penn and Winfield elementary schools and shift fourth and fifth grade students to the Saxonburg Elementary.O'Shell said logistics, such as bus schedules were a challenge the first year, but activities run so smoothly now that people don't think of it as a new school.The students benefit from a "more technologically advanced and a streamlined connection," O'Shell said.The building has a geothermal heating system that uses 128 wells to pump 50 degree water through the building.The Primary School creates a central campus area for the school district, with the middle school and high school already on the property.At the same time of construction on the primary building, the board hired the architectural firm of Peterson and Peterson to design a new soccer field to replace the one lost during excavation. The high school football stadium also has new seating.The school board now is looking at resurfacing the track at the stadium and correcting a drainage problem on the field.Superintendent Pat O'Toole said it is hard to say what capital improvements may take place in the next five years because of changing conditions, but he said some things are being considered.Possible upgrades include improving the intermediate school and its parking lot, returning the high school library to a gym and upgrading the district's auditoriums.

Here is what was used in building the Primary School that opened in 2002 in the South Butler School District:• 36,000 tons of stone• 12,000 tons of asphalt• 15 colors of floor tile• 18 colors of paint• 50 miles of data cable• 400,000 bricks• 2 acres of singles

<b>Address:</b> 328 Knoch Road, Saxonburg, PA 16056<b>Telephone:</b> 724-352-1700<b>Web site:</b> www.southbutler.k12.pa.us<b>Superintendent:</b> Patrick O'Toole<b>Enrollment:</b> 2,865<b>Municipalities served:</b> Clinton, Jefferson, Penn and Winfield townships; Saxonburg borough

First grader Joey Gasowski looks through the books in the South Butler Primary Center's library.