DAPHNE, Ala. — Daphne Elementary School will have a rededication ceremony from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday  at the facility on Main Street to invite the community to tour its new gymnasium, cafeteria and library.

“The new parts are the cafeteria and the gym,” Principal Jan Palmer said.

 “It is a huge area,” she said of the gym. “It has the basketball goals and it also has bleachers for games and programs we may have in the gym.”

The school needed a new cafeteria and gym, Palmer said. “The kitchen was very small along with the dining area. We did not have a place (where) the children could really play the right kind of activities during P.E. on rainy or cold days.” An example would be practicing throwing and catching balls indoors during rainy afternoons.

Palmer said construction spanned two-and-a-half years, and included renovating the former cafeteria to become the new library. The former library was converted into the new gym.

“It gives us much more room for the library,” she said of improvements. “It also is updated with many new features,” including new book selections and interactive activities.

“We have a reading room with built-in seating and glass around it where reading the story does not conflict with checking out books,” Palmer said.

“We have an area that is separated from the main library that is where the media specialist does her teaching of the library skills.  The library has a glassed-in office area for the media specialist and a ton of storage for other library media equipment.”

Librarian Elizabeth Tindell has set aside an area of novels for teachers to check out for pleasure reading and a professional library of information teachers may use in the classroom.

Interim superintendent JaNay Dawson and Baldwin County Board of Education President Tracy Edwards are set to speak at the ceremony.

“We are also trying to get some former students to speak about the past,” Palmer said.

The school opened its doors in 1939 after the Daphne Normal State School closed, operating out of The Woodmen of the World Hall on Sixth Street while the school campus was constructed.

Initially, the school taught students from first to eighth grades and comprised 10 classrooms, a science lab, library, cafeteria and auditorium.

The public is invited to attend the ceremony and admission is free.