Preschool and kindergarten students in the West Liberty Community School District will have new classrooms when they return to school next week.
Superintendent Shaun Kruger announced at the West Liberty Business Association meeting kindergarten students would have their first day Friday, Aug. 25, in the remodeled area of the elementary school wing.
“They start a couple of days later so teachers can do home visits and get with parents to do some of the orientation stuff, ” Kruger said.
The brand new building where preschool is held will open to students Monday, Aug. 28.
“It just put that start date back from Friday, the 25th, to Monday, the 28,” Kruger said. “Again, with construction everything comes right down to the wire.”
Staff was happy they didn’t have to start the school year at the old early learning center building, he added.
“Teachers would have had to set all that up and then establish routines with all those little ones and then three weeks later stop, take some time away, move everything and start over,” Kruger said. “I think teachers were pretty pleased about that. It will help the kids in the long run.”
Kruger also gave an update on the athletic complex construction.
“If you’ve been by there, you’re seeing more and more things going up,” Kruger said. “They had a pretty aggressive timeline.”
The general contractor wanted everything finished by Sept. 8, but Kruger said he thought that would change.
“I just think with some of the weather and some of the labor concerns I’m guessing that will be pushed back a week or two,” he said. “It’s just one of those things where we’ll play that by ear to see how things will go but still optimistic that hopefully we can enjoy that new complex this fall.”