STEVENSVILLE — It's not just masks, but hard hats on the Stevensville School campus this fall, as the district prepares to open class in the midst of a huge construction project.
When voters approved more than $20-million in new construction for Stevensville High School and elementary last year, district administrators knew this school year would be disruptive.
But combined with the precautions of the pandemic the challenge was even larger.
“It has made the process extremely interesting and difficult, but we're confident that we're going to get there in the end result," said Stevensville Schools Superintendent Bob Moore. "We're very confident in that is going to be good for the community.”
Still, everyone has pitched in, and the campus is ready to open.
"We're cautiously optimistic. We do have a significant portion of campus torn apart. The noise in the background is commonplace, and we're going to have students just placed all over campus because of classroom remodeling," Moore said.
Although big construction projects like this right in the middle of campus could lead to pandemonium, a big effort has been made to put up all kinds of traffic patterns with plenty of directional signs. Of course, there will have to be adjustments, especially with the bulk of the work scheduled in the coming months. But that's where teamwork is making a difference.
"In working with our project manager and site Superintendent and the folks from Quality Construction. They've done a great job of managing our project and will we're very pleased with [the] progress," Moor said. "Everybody is working hard to make sure that we're ready to reopen on Sept. 9th.”
The district and contractors had worked out guidelines for separating students and construction operations even before the COV ID-19 pandemic.
