New London ―Just in time for the first day of classes this week, officials from the Interdistrict School for Arts and Communication, or ISAAC, on Tuesday unveiled their $2.5 million expansion project that added new science, music and computer spaces at the downtown campus.

The ribbon cutting at the 190 Governor Winthrop Blvd. charter school comes 13 months after the project began, said ISAAC Executive Director Nicholas Spera. He said the project entailed constructing a new combination band and chorus room with tiered ceilings, along with the middle school’s “first real science lab.”

The 4,500-square-foot expansion was funded with American Rescue Plan Act Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding and a 20-year bank loan.

The school, which opened in 2003 inside a former YMCA, typically enrolls approximately 280 students and is not part of the New London Public School district.

In Connecticut, public charter schools are authorized by the state Board of Education and governed by boards comprised of teachers, parent and community members. ISAAC students are accepted through an open, non-merit-based lottery that draws from 13 southeastern Connecticut municipalities.

Editors note: This version corrects the size of the expansion and the year the school opened.

j.penney@theday.com