School district is working on contingencies if concrete work isn’t finished

The concrete for the north lot at Thomas Jefferson Elementary was poured just in time for it to harden properly and allow buses to use the surface this month.

Superintendent Tom Messinger told school board members in early July that excess water from repeated rainstorms had delayed parts of the construction project at the Newton elementary school. Specifically, the concrete work needed dry days for the install and 30 days to cure before buses and traffic use them.

However, with the concrete now poured on the north side, Messinger said the school buses should be able to drive on the surface by the time the 2025-2026 school year starts. The south lot will still need a week to set before traffic will be allowed on the newly constructed surface.

“The reason for the lesser amount of time is because of car traffic instead of bus traffic,” Messinger said at the July 28 school board meeting. “They were set to pour that this week, but with the continuation of rain they did not start anything … Hopefully still if the weather cooperates we’ll be in good shape there.”

In the event the weather does not cooperate and the school district will not have enough time to have the south lot ready by the start of the new school year, Messinger said administrators are working on two different components for a contingency plan: a student part and a staff part.

“The student part should be easier because we learned how to transport the students over here by bus and have parents pick up here,” Messinger said, referencing the end of the 2024-2025 school year in which parents were required to pick up Thomas Jefferson Elementary students at the administration building.

Figuring out how to get staff to the building is going to be the real challenge since the south lot is where many of the teachers are forced to park.

Messinger said the district will know more details in the next few days.

Despite the delays in the concrete work, Messinger said the interior of the new addition is coming together nicely. The framing is completed and the building passed its electrician and above-ceiling inspections. Crews are still finishing up parts of the office space and receiving furniture.

“The new classrooms — we were in those last week — they’re finishing up the floors in there as well as some of the final work with the painting. It looks really nice in there, so it’s starting to come together,” Messinger said, noting Aug. 11 is the punch list date for the Thomas Jefferson construction project.