New school wing timeline extends past Christmas break
By Bruce Wallace
The concrete pad for the new fifth grade wing at the SoBoCo Elementary School was poured on Monday, however, students will likely move into the new facility later in the school year than planned.
The original timeline called for teachers and staff to move into classrooms after students adjourned for Christmas break. However, an updated construction timeline presented to the school board at their Monday, Aug. 18 meeting said the building would not be ready in December.
The change in schedule may mean that students would not be in their new classrooms until after the President's Day break or after Spring Break.
Elementary School principal Brandi Fatherley said the key focus for teachers and administrators is not when they get in the new building, as much as it is making the transition while losing minimal amount of instruction time. Moving after January would mean making the transition from the old Elementary School to the new wing just before MAP testing.
"Making this transition is much more than just moving desks," Fatherley said. "There will be schedule changes and the students will need to be re-trained in a new environment, everything from lunch routines to going to the bathroom."
Fatherley said the five fifth grade teachers will have a classroom full of books, materials, computers, Smart Boards and more which will need to be moved and organized in the new building, a process that will take a minimum of three to four days. During the last transition of third and fourth grades, Fatherley said the community was a huge help and that may be necessary again.
"Is moving on President's Day possible? Yes, with help from the community."
SoBoCo cannot require teachers to utilize their vacation days to make the move and Fatherley said she will work to balance making the transition and providing time off for teachers and students.
"We have been working on this plan since summer and we are as ready as we can be," Fatherley said, "but we want to do it right and we don't want to lose instructional time."
While the concrete pad was just poured on Monday, school board president Joe Miller said the timeline presented to the board was not set in concrete.
"Don't be so sure we won't get in the new wing during the holiday break," Miller said. "We weren't sure we would get in the new school last fall, but we did."
Miller said fall weather for construction crews would make the difference in the building's completion.
In other news from last week's school board meeting: