During Monday night's Newton School Committee meeting, Newton Public Schools' Chief Operating Officer Mike Cronin provided a few photos to show the construction progress at F.A. Day Middle School.

After months of infrastructure and utility work on the site, steel beams and concrete slabs have started going up at the school. 

"Once the steel goes up, you can see the structure and how big it is...it's real and it's there," Cronin said. "The school is excited because they can see and feel it."

Placement of the steel for the new classroom addition began on Jan. 24, 2013 and interior mechanical work for the new classrooms is underway, according to a facilities memo issued to the School Committee.

When the project is completed, six new classrooms will be added to the school, a measure that officials are hoping will help the district's growing student enrollment. The new classrooms will be located on a three-story wing facing the field next to the school. 

In addition, the project expands the cafeteria and relocates the main office/administrative wing to the school's Minot Place entrance, which will act as the new main entry. 

According to the fiscal 2013-2017 Capital Improvement Plan, the F.A. Day expansion project is estimated to cost the city $7.5 million total. The expansion is expected to be finished and open for students by the start of the 2013-2014 school year.

"The school has been great," Cronin said Monday night. "[Principal] Brian [Turner] and the staff have been very accommodating."