Jones Elementary School Prepares To Open After Major Delay

It’s been two years since the groundbreaking of Jones Elementary School, with hopes of having that campus open this school year. But workers are still on site finishing up the construction. 

Until the new building opens, all students will report to the current campus for their first day of school. When the new building opens, Pre-k through first grade will move to the new building, while second through fifth grade will stay on the current campus. 

Superintendent Dr. Johnson says they’re hoping to have the new building open by next month, saying it will be well worth the wait. 

"It's a phenomenal place for those little kids.,” said Johnson. 

Shortly after they broke ground following the 2019-2020 school year, they ran into delays. 

"As soon as we broke ground, we found that there was a lot of water underground. And it took 3 or 4 months to get that resolved,” said Johnson. 

He says they were almost 6 months behind schedule before they even laid the foundation. Shortly after the water problems were solved, they ran into supply shortages. Then, the contractors and workers had to leave to finish other jobs because of the delays. 

"Even those slowdowns I think could have been overcome. It was just the water issue that put us so far behind that we're not able to open for the first day of school,” said Dr. Johnson. 

He said they knew there was a chance they may not open in time for this school year, so they made a backup plan for the first day on Wednesday, August 17. Their goal was to make it an easy transition for their young students when it comes time to move classrooms. 

"We continue to put the burden on the teachers. They're going to get their classrooms ready and hopefully in a month we're going to ask them to do it all over again. We'll move the furniture into the new building, and we'll ask them to decorate those classrooms again and have another first day of school,” said Johnson. 

He says despite the delay, he thinks the new campus will be worth it. He says they originally got the idea to build following a rebuild of the high school some years back. He says the positive feedback from the community makes him know that the elementary school rebuild will have a similar outcome. 

"There's no doubt that this thing, this building is going to be special,” said Dr. Johnson. 

He says Jones has been growing, and this larger building will allow for continuous growth. 

"We expect to see significant growth over the next 10 years. And this gives the community the opportunity to support that growth and not have to make sacrifices in the future because of that,” said Dr. Johnson. 

Dr. Johnson says the new building will allow for students to spend more time in the classroom, instead of transitioning through the building for classes such as music and art. There will also be a gymnasium separate from the cafeteria that will also serve as an auditorium. 

He says he is also very proud of the new playground, built with safety precautions in mind and built mostly with turf so it will not be muddy after rain.