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HIGH POINT — The Union Hill community will feel a little more whole in a few weeks when Union Hill Elementary opens Tuesday for the first time in two years.

The original building, opened in 1929, was among the oldest in the county still in use when it was demolished for the new school.

Union Hill principal Dean LaVere couldn’t be happier with the new school.

“I can’t stop smiling,” he said. “It’s such a great facility.”

So great, LaVere and other school system officials expect the school’s attendance to grow considerably over the next year or so. Before the original school was demolished, about 430 students attended. That number fell to about 350 when teacher and students moved into the former Allen Jay Middle School during construction.

“We expect to get a lot of those students back,” LaVere said.

This year’s attendance is estimated to be about 400 students.

Union Hill PTA President Krissy Gill said the new school will be a point of pride for students and the community.

“I think it’s going to help spruce up High Point and this area,” she said.

With more than 90,000 square feet, the new Union Hill has room for up to 750 students. The school is the last major 2003 bond project to be completed. The cost to build the school was originally estimated at $13 million; system officials did not provide a final total Wednesday.

Leo Bobadilla, the school system’s chief of operations, said a student of the school’s original class joked with him that when the school was built it was state of the art because it had indoor plumbing.

Bobadilla said this second incarnation of Union Hill holds true to that tradition with high tech tools to help kids learn.

Those tools include dry-erase boards that double as giant computer monitors, a speaker and microphone system in every class so teachers can be heard and energy-saving lighting.

But the original school isn’t all lost. Two concrete friezes, architectural designs similar to a crest, were saved from the old school.

One is featured prominently on the front façade of the building; the other was built into the cafeteria wall.

“We had to fight really hard to keep them,” Gill said. “We said if they’re 80 years old and look this great I think they’ll last another 80 years.”

The school’s original bell was found during demolition. LaVere is working with community leaders to decide where and how to display it.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com