DD's school's not done...delayed opening!

[mudnuri]

UGH!

DD8's elementary school is undergoing a MAJOR renovation (7 mil)...and they wont be ready to open on the 30th like the rest of the district. They are hoping to get the certificate of occupancy on the 8th of september, and then be back in school on the 13th.......UGH!

DD9 goes back on the 30th because she's moved up to the Middle School this year..so she's on schedule. I start classses on the 5th, and now have to figure out what to do with this DD until the 13th...what a PITA!

Thankfully I have enough family around that they can take her while I'm in classes, but i feel bad for those families that do not, and will now have to find 2 weeks of daycare!...and for a 4th grader...shesh...what an unexpected expense thats going to be!

Brandy

 

[golfgal]

A school down the road from our old town didn't open until October one year when they built new. It was a K-12 school so the whole town didn't have school though. Our old town built a new high school that opened this past school year and that was done on time, finished in July as planned.

I wonder if your school district will offer some activities for the kids that won't be in school yet?

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I thought the school where I teach would delay. We open to students on Aug. 23. Last Thursday (Aug. 3) there was no ceiling in the new cafeteria! (we made the old library the new kitchen, expanded the cafeteria into the old kitchen, and are doing some work in the back of the building for a new bus drop-off--DURING the next year we are building a new wing on the front of the building). Well yesterday I went back again and there is a ceiling and a floor-and another teacher said that as of 3PM Thursday there was no floor, so they are really working their behinds off. I think we built financial penalties into the contract if work is not done on time. I hear one of our elementaries is even worse. I was actually hoping we'd delay a couple of days because my kids start the week after I do, and DH gets to do all the fun registration stuff at 3 different schools that I'd LOVE to do.
Robin M.

 

[Miller1412]

I teach in a school that's undergoing renovations too. The kids are scheduled to start on the 28th. We were supposed to get in to unpack and set up on the 15th. That has now been pushed back to the 16th...then the 17th...and now we're on the 18th. Inservice starts for us on the 21st, and I'm of the understanding that we will not be excused from inservice for room set up.

I'm having nightmares every night and getting stressed about getting in there...I'm a kindergarten teacher and you should see how much stuff I have!! I'm freaking out...

 

[Hannathy]

When I was in middle school our school wasn't done but they moved us in anyway. Be glad they are waiting talk about a mess! The entire tech end. music, art wing was not done ie open to the sky and blocked off by plastic sheeting, the cafet. wasn't done so they brought in food in aluminum individual take out trays and we ate in shifts. 1/2 the classes had no books the hall floors weren't finished,rough cement. Noise, dust, equipment, it was a fun year. I'd have gladly waited even a month so they could have finished more of the building.

 

[koopa]

Wonder if the school can get partial occupancy, so part of the school can be open.

How are they going to make up the days? Sounds like the middle school will get out early while the elementary gets out a week later next year.

 

[anewvance]

That's what I was wondering, how they were going to make up the days? I would have thought they would have had a what if plan for moving the kids around for the 2 weeks so they got started when everyone else did.

 

[pigletz]

We were actually in the opposite situation five years ago. They had been telling us for a couple of years that they were going to be knocking down our school and rebuilding and to get ready to move. Well, each year at the end of the year they would tell us that they were going to wait another year and not to worry about packing. Imagine our surprise when we showed up for the first teacher day to find that the school had been condemned the day before. The district had no idea what they were going to do with us.

They ended up moving the eighth grade to the high school. Some of the seventh graders went to a few of the elementary schools and the rest of the seventh grade went to an old catholic school that had closed years before. I ended up in the catholic school in the basement with another teacher. It was awful. We had about 60 kids cramed into this tiny room. The room was the old cafeteria and since it was the only place to heat up the kids lunches we had to teach while the cafeteria workers made lunch and then all of the kids would file through our room to get their lunches. Luckily the other teacher and I were good friends and since we both taught Language Arts it worked pretty well. School started a week late though. It was a mess. Not only was there a lot of confusion about where kids were supposed to go, but we started school on Sept.11, 2001.

They ended up using our 5 built in snow days so that they didn't have to add days on to the year. Had we had any snow days that year they would have had to add on to the end of the year.

The next year they built two modular units (trailors) to house the seventh grade. One was ready on time and the other wasn't so school was delayed again for half the seventh grade. That was a mess too. The trailer that wasn't done on time had lots of problems. We lost power for days at a time and had to teach all of our classes in the gym at the elementary school across the street. All of the seventh graders are now in the elementary schools and all 400+ eighth graders are in one trailor.

Our new building has been built but we're not in it yet. It was finished on time two years ago but they moved the high school there until they finish rebuilding the high school. It's a beautiful building so I can't wait to get in there next year.

 

[mudnuri]

We have 9 snowdays built into our calendar. If we dont use them they will be fine. if we do use them, what they're planning on doing is going half days on Saturday to make up for them. If they go to school until 12:45 its considered full day...so thats the plan!

I can't wait to see the new school, since i went to K-4 at this same school, and from the outside it looks pretty cool!

Brandy

 

[Becky2005]

Oh ick! I'm sorry this is happening!

It freaks me out a bit because they are building a new Middle School here and my DD is attending the new one.

I just read in the paper a few weeks ago "HOPEFULLY they will be done mid-August" -- HOPEFULLY?????? School starts August 30, they had better be done.

I haven't heard anything more on it, so I'm assuming everything is on schedule but I can understand your frustration.

 

[TheDisneyTraveler06]

UGH!

DD8's elementary school is undergoing a MAJOR renovation (7 mil)...and they wont be ready to open on the 30th like the rest of the district. They are hoping to get the certificate of occupancy on the 8th of september, and then be back in school on the 13th.......UGH!

DD9 goes back on the 30th because she's moved up to the Middle School this year..so she's on schedule. I start classses on the 5th, and now have to figure out what to do with this DD until the 13th...what a PITA!

Thankfully I have enough family around that they can take her while I'm in classes, but i feel bad for those families that do not, and will now have to find 2 weeks of daycare!...and for a 4th grader...shesh...what an unexpected expense thats going to be!

Brandy

I understand your frustrations. Glad it all can work out.

 

[monsterkitty]

I love when they do renovations to schools - NOT!

Because many buildings are so old, they always stumble across some unforeseen problems. The problem the year they did our school just happened to be my room. They went to put in the new lights and the old ceiling started to fall. Needless to say, they started putting in the new ceiling a week before students returned to school.

DUring that week I obviously wasn't allowed in my room. So, I sat in the teachers' lounge and the library. The idiot principal wrote me up for not using my time wisely in my room. I asked him what i was supposed to do and he said work around the workers. Whatever dude. Of course I made a call to the union, who made a call to the superintendent, who told my principal to grow a brain.

I was given permission to enter my room 1 hour before my first class entered the door. I was so excited.

 

[golfgal]

You might not have to make up any missed days. I know our old district counted the school days by the number of days the high school was in session. The elementary schools often had days off of school for conferences that that high school did not have off. Not sure if this is how it is done in other states.

 

[daisyduck123]

You might not have to make up any missed days. I know our old district counted the school days by the number of days the high school was in session. The elementary schools often had days off of school for conferences that that high school did not have off. Not sure if this is how it is done in other states.

Same for my school. We started late a few years ago when we moved into our brand new building. We didn't have to make up any days!!

 

[stm61]

Same for my school. We started late a few years ago when we moved into our brand new building. We didn't have to make up any days!!

Unfortunately we did have to make up the days. Same thing happened here a few yrs ago. School was delayed almost 3 wks because construction was not done at some of the schools. Rather then open the schools that were not involved, the district decided to keep them all closed. The days were made up at the end of the yr and by cancelling some scheduled days off. Snow days were made up during spring break. Plan B, if they were still unable to open after 3 wks, was to open the schools not being renovated, and put those students on half days. The schools that were disaster zones would attend the open schools for other half of the day. It was a nightmare for parents! Not many people can afford to take off 3 wks from work to stay home with their kids. None of the daycares will take school age kids, they're not licensed for anything but before/after care. Even if they could, the prices are so high most people simply couldn't afford the unexpected bills. The school board's response was to open their before/after care program to anyone who needed emergency childcare. They were shocked that very few parents took advantage of this, at $3 an hour per child! Most family's ended up using a combination of parent sick time from work, teenage babysitter's, neighbor's, and whatever friends and relatives they could impose on to give up a day off.

 

[kwdietrich1]

My high school is (hopefully) finishing up part I of absestos removal before they start major ($40+ million) renovations. (I actually think it would be cheaper to hit it with a few wrecking balls and start from scratch! ) I went in last Friday to pick up some of my materials and to drop off printing, and they aren't finished in one section of the building. It is sealed off of course for our protection, but the first teacher day is Aug 22! I hope they finish. The district seems to think so, but I am concerned. When I walked into the finished areas of the bldg, the floors were unfinished concrete (they ripped up the absestos tile). A dust cloud ensued as I walked on the floor, totally gritty/sandy. They have no plans of sealing the concrete! They are going to leave it as is. I feel sorry for people with asthma.

I am feeling very fortunate that I am teaching in a modular classroom!

 

[golfgal]

My high school is (hopefully) finishing up part I of absestos removal before they start major ($40+ million) renovations. (I actually think it would be cheaper to hit it with a few wrecking balls and start from scratch! ) I went in last Friday to pick up some of my materials and to drop off printing, and they aren't finished in one section of the building. It is sealed off of course for our protection, but the first teacher day is Aug 22! I hope they finish. The district seems to think so, but I am concerned. When I walked into the finished areas of the bldg, the floors were unfinished concrete (they ripped up the absestos tile). A dust cloud ensued as I walked on the floor, totally gritty/sandy. They have no plans of sealing the concrete! They are going to leave it as is. I feel sorry for people with asthma.

I am feeling very fortunate that I am teaching in a modular classroom!

You are probably right depending on how big your school is. Our old town just built a new high school, grades 9-12 for about 1000 students including a state of the art performing arts wing and a huge gym for about $45million. The taxpayers only had to pay about $30 million of that because of some donations from local businesses.

 

[kwdietrich1]

You are probably right depending on how big your school is. Our old town just built a new high school, grades 9-12 for about 1000 students including a state of the art performing arts wing and a huge gym for about $45million. The taxpayers only had to pay about $30 million of that because of some donations from local businesses.

Our school has approximately 1400 students. So not terribly larger than yours. I haven't seen the finalized plans, but in the spring, our principal showed our dept. one version, and they actually downsized the number of classrooms per department instead of adding! I thought one of the main reasons for renovations was to increase the number of classrooms due to over-crowding!?!

Edited for spelling- And I should know better!

 

[golfgal]

Our school has approximately 1400 students. So not terribly bigger than yours. I haven't seen the finalized plans, but in the spring, our principal show our dept. one version, and they actually downsized the number of classrooms per department instead of adding! I thought one of the main reasons for renovations was to increase the number of classrooms due to over-crowding!?!

I know this was an issue when we built our new school. Part of the thinking is that more kids will be doing online courses and courses at the college vs taking them at the high school so they won't need as much space. Who knows. Minnesota does have a program where jr's and sr's can take college courses for free that double count for college credit and high school credit so there are quite a few students that do that in our old town since the college is right across the street from the high school.

 

[kwdietrich1]

I know this was an issue when we built our new school. Part of the thinking is that more kids will be doing online courses and courses at the college vs taking them at the high school so they won't need as much space. Who knows. Minnesota does have a program where jr's and sr's can take college courses for free that double count for college credit and high school credit so there are quite a few students that do that in our old town since the college is right across the street from the high school.

I wish that were the case. We have several new neighborhoods currently being built, so enrollment will increase. We do have some students who take college courses at a branch of Penn State, but unfortunately, they charge tuition.