The Preschool addition at Highland Elementary School has seen progress through the winter thus far.
The project was initially scheduled to be finished on January 1 this year. However, a plumbing permit was needed to continue operations in October, which delayed the process ten weeks. There is a possibility the building will be completed by late February. “They finished up the parking lot in the fall, which was very helpful,” said Highland Elementary School Principal Chris Trostad, “For our students’ drop-off and pick-up. That has been helpful for us.”
Other portions of completion with the preschool addition include the earthwork, the assembly of the building, a finished roof, windows, doors, and steel siding to the exterior of the building. “On the inside right now, they are hanging sheetrock,” said Trostad, “They going to start taping and texturing, then they’ll paint, and once they’re done with that, they will work on flooring and probably end up installing cabinets, doors, things like that.”
Along with the preschool addition, Highland School will install an additional parking lot for teachers and parents and a continued road path where parents can have an extended area for pick up and drop off. “One nice thing is we’ve increased the distance of the parent drop-off zone,” said Trostad, “There’s going to be two lanes going through there, so parents will be able to go right in by the playground in front of the school and be able to exit where they drop off. This will add a lot of extra parking, and we’re bringing over Washington staff, so we’ll need more parking.” Another addition to the building will include a new elevator, which will lead to an activity area for pre-K and kindergarten students.
This project is being funded through leftover Covid grant funding. The total project cost has racked up to approximately $4 million. This project has not included tax dollars from citizens or city funding.
Trostad also spoke highly of the crew working on the preschool addition. With the plumbing permit mishap, he believes the construction crew has worked hard and made up time from the ten-week delay.
