The elementary school being built on Minot Avenue is almost eight weeks ahead of schedule, according to Mark Adrean, one of the project leads from PMA consultants.

“We’re going to try to hang onto that lead as long as we can,” Adrean said.

During a walk-through of the construction site on Tuesday, Dec. 5, Adrean and Rhonda Veugen — a member of the community outreach group for the new elementary school — discussed the project’s recent progress. 

Many of the new developments are internal now that the school’s exterior has been built. Inside, the cafetorium, a combined cafeteria and auditorium, is easily recognizable. In the hallways, Adrean pointed out the places that would hold sets of student lockers. Already, some of the classrooms and hallways have paint on the walls.

A few notable highlights were mentioned during the walk-through. 

The younger students will have access to single-stall bathrooms in every classroom, and cubbies will be built into classrooms for the students too young for lockers. 

The stage in the cafetorium connects to the music and ensemble rooms, to make pre-performance practice easy. The art classes will have access to a kiln. And the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) room will have a sizable amount of roof access, which will be perfect for outdoor projects or experiments.

In addition to being used by students, Veugen emphasized that many areas of the school, — including the cafetorium, innovation hub and more — will be available for community use. She noted the innovation hub’s separate entrances mean it could also be used for after-school performances, library events, and other community organizations’ events. 

“We’ve said time and time again that the community is what helped us build this and we want the community continuing to use it, because it’s going to be an amazing space once this is done,” Veugen said.

If all goes according to schedule, pre-K through fourth grade students will begin learning at the new school in January 2022, Veugen said.