Bob Joseph/WNBF News
Bob Joseph/WNBF News
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With less than 500 days before its scheduled opening, active construction has begun on the MacArthur Elementary School on Binghamton's South Side.

Crews are busy on the Vestal Avenue site where the former MacArthur School stood for decades prior to the September 2011 flood.

Bob Joseph/WNBF News
Bob Joseph/WNBF News
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School district voters approved the project 13 months ago. Demolition of the damaged school building was completed last fall.

Binghamton City School District administrators had hoped construction of the new facility would have started months ago. But work could not commence until the State Education Department gave final approval to the project's plans.

School superintendent Marion Martinez has said she believes the school will be able to open in September 2015 despite the delays.

Martinez has indicated while classrooms may be ready, some work may remain on other parts of the building.

Since the flood, MacArthur students have been taught at separate locations in Hillcrest and on Binghamton's West Side.

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