CROYDON — The Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation awarded a $50,000 grant to fully fund a new playground at the Croydon Village School, Aaron McKeon, chairman of the School Board, said in an email this week.
The new playground is tentatively scheduled to be built in the summer of 2027.
Also next summer, McKeon said school officials are tentatively planning to build a second schoolhouse next to the village school using a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development. Neither grant requires a local match, McKeon added.
This summer, renovations will be made to the one-room schoolhouse, often referred to as “Little Red.”
The $353,000 project will be paid for with a New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program grant of $128,000, with a 50% local match and a bond approved by voters in 2025.
Upgrades will include bringing the building into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, replacing the roof and classroom flooring, repointing the exterior brick, adding insulation to the basement and abating and replacing the attic insulation.
CORRECTION: The renovations to “Little Red” slated for this summer are expected to cost a total of $353,000. A previous version of this story included an incorrect total cost for the project.
