WEST MIDDLESEX — Back-to-school season is in full swing across Mercer County, but teachers and administrators in West Middlesex, and particularly at Luther Low Elementary School, are happy to have another week to get ready for students to storm the doors.

Construction workers are finishing the details of floor-to-ceiling improvements inside the district’s primary school for grades kindergarten through third, and just last week teachers were allowed to start setting up their classrooms.

It’s the first major renovation of the school that opened in 1974, said Superintendent Alan Baldarelli. Many of the improvements have made the building more energy-efficient. The single-pane windows that used to frost up in the winter are gone. Old light fixtures that used four fluorescent bulbs were updated to ones that are brighter and need only two. Outdoor parking lot fixtures were replaced with ones to hold LED bulbs.

There were boiler-room upgrades, additions in insulation and a new roof. The tires that used to hold down the old roof are gone.

And for the first time, the two-story school is fully accessible for those with disabilities.

“Nothing in here was handicap-accessible before. Now, everything is,” Baldarelli said.

A student or parent who uses a wheelchair can move easily from a parking space to the front door. There’s a separate door next to the school’s main entrance that leads to the elevator.

Security improvements started at the front door. All visitors will use the same entrance, and the flight of stairs that visitors use is separated by a glass wall from the stairs used by students and teachers throughout the day. Anyone who comes to the front door will be channeled through the school’s front office. Visitors to the district’s administration offices, located in the same building, will do the same.

Additionally, 16 cameras provide extra eyes throughout the building, inside and out.

In the event of an emergency, new safety panels and signals will allow someone trapped inside to push a button and alert rescuers to where they are in the building. The ceilings above classrooms no longer stretch from one end of the school to the other. Instead, walls interrupt the vast space to prevent fires from spreading. Baldarelli said those walls also will help keep sounds in one classroom from bleeding into the one next door.

There were technological updates as well, plus the standard upgrades that are part of any project – freshly-painted and tiled walls, new floors and carpets.

Teachers last Monday walked into rooms that were blank slates, and as the week progressed they turned those blank rooms into colorful classrooms.

By Friday, third-grade teacher Ann Wiles’ room looked complete, down to textbooks stacked on each child’s desk. The only hint of construction in her room was that the bulletin boards weren’t yet installed, and still were leaning against the wall.

Students report for the first day of class on Sept. 4.

This project in West Middlesex is particularly unusual in the fact the district didn’t float a bond or raise taxes to pay for it. Baldarelli is proud to say the work has been paid for with cash the district saved over time. He’s just as proud to say it looks like the work will come in under the original $6.7 million pricetag – probably closer to $6.2 million.

“We want to make sure we’re ready for the next 20 years,” Baldarelli said.