Brennen School celebrates renovations to Purple Path

The Brennen School in Newark – which serves students with autism spectrum disorder within the Christina School District – celebrates needed renovations to the school.

The school houses the Delaware Autism Program, and about 100 students from the New Castle County participate in the program.

Brennen School principal Heather Calkins says the renovation upgraded the school's Purple Path which is the preschool hallway.

"The hallway was the original Delaware Autism Program, so it was built-in the early 80s. So a lot of it was outdated, the spaces were very small, lighting needed to be enhanced and some modernization with shelving cabinets, but the biggest thing was larger classroom spaces," said Calkins. "So the physical footprint of the rooms is now larger than it was."

The upgraded Purple Path also has enhanced therapy areas and improved restrooms accessible.

The renovations are all designed to create a more comfortable and functional environment for the students.

Calkins says the renovations are very helpful.

"Accommodate additional children into our classrooms who need our services and also students with autism need to have very clear laid out environmental spaces, and so that extra classroom space allows us to designate certain areas of the classroom group for certain activities so that we can teach our students those skills that they need," said Calkins.

Calkins notes she is as happy for the staff as she is for the students at the school to get this larger and newer space in the building.

The state funded the project which has been in the works since 2015.