Elementary school students in Melba have already been in class for days, but they're waiting for another fresh start this year.
Sherry Ann Adams is the principal at Melba Elementary. She’s been watching the progress of the new elementary school from across a small field. A short walk separates the current elementary school from the new building.
"We had a crane here the other day that was putting heating units on top of the building, and the 4th grade teacher… finally just had to say OK go watch,” Adams says.
Melba School District broke ground on the new school last year after receiving a $9.5 million bond. Students were supposed to be in the building for the first day of class in August.
"Due to weather, we ran into lava rock, just construction, things we don't have a lot of control over,” Andrew Grover, Melba School District Superintendent says. “It pushed it to these dates."
The goal, now, is to hold class in the new school starting Oct. 10.
The old school is outdated and housed in four separate buildings. Students walk outside between classes and to the bathroom. The students even make a daily trip to the high school for lunch.
"I need to start a calendar marking down how many more times I have to walk to the high school for lunch duty," Adams says.
Grover says the new school has state of the art technology and is being built with energy efficiency in mind.
“We don't even have a connected intercom system,” Adams says. “We don't have a connected fire alarm system here… So we’re just going from one extreme to the other moving into the new building.”
Six on Your Side asked Principal Adams if she was going to miss the old school.
“No, not a bit,” she says.
School will still be in session during the transition to the new building. Adams and Grover say the entire moving process should take about 10 days.
