DERRY — After weathering a financial storm in a less-than-desirable bond market, Pinkerton Academy trustees announced the time is right to begin work on the school's newest building.

Last week, trustees told representatives of Pinkerton's sending towns (Derry, Hampstead, and Chester) that ground will be broken in March 2010 for the Freshman Academy, a project geared toward making the Pinkerton experience more personalized for freshmen entering the school.

Pinkerton had hoped to begin construction on the new building in 2008 with completion planned for 18 months later. But citing financial instability and difficulty obtaining fiscally responsible bonding and insurance, it was decided to put the new building on hold. Now trustees say it's time since construction costs are low and financing is favorable.

With plans in place to begin construction next spring, students may be ready to occupy the new freshman space by the opening of the 2011-2012 school year.

"Now is the right time to move forward with this long overdue project," Board of Trustees' President Harry Burnham told sending towns representatives last week.

The Freshman Academy plan came about after Pinkerton's Schools-Within-A-School Committee worked on ways to make the school feel smaller and more intimate.

"We wanted to provide a more personalized education, especially for our freshmen," Burnham said, "to help them with their transition into our large community."

The plan for the new building includes approximately 35 classrooms, along with specialized rooms, labs, offices, and service areas in a 131,000-square foot area, replacing Pinkerton's two portable classroom clusters, both nearly 40 years old and past their prime on the campus.

The new building would house freshmen for four core classes each day — math, science, English, and social studies — and would help transition the first-year high-schoolers into the campus experience in a smooth and successful way, while offering much-needed classroom space. The building would also host a cafeteria, conference rooms, technology space, and administrator and staffing offices.

Also in the usage mix is a plan to use the space to update and expand Pinkerton's Career and Technical Education Department, including room for a new culinary arts program.

The new building plan originally included a new sports field that would include artificial turf, lighting and seating for about 3,000 fans. Now, Burnham said trustees reconsidered this option and decided to consider the athletic portion of the project as a separate project, possibly to be financed with alternative sources of revenue.

In the beginning, the cost of the project was estimated to cost about $30-$31 million. With some changes and re-thinking of the project, trustees said the cost, although not a firm number, could be as low as $22 million.

"This new building, representing a great deal of deliberation and thought, will be used for multiple purposes," Burnham said, "and will help resolve many issues and will take advantage of today's opportune conditions.

Burnham added the Freshman Academy building will continue Pinkerton's mission to be diverse while offering the best curriculum and facilities to educate all students attending.