RADFORD CITY, Va. (WFXR) — The start of the school year is being delayed two weeks for students in Radford City Schools as renovations in some schools are still underway.
Administrators made the announcement to the public on Monday August 8.
Superintendent Rob Graham says they are cleared to allow students inside the buildings, but they want to clean it up first so students can really experience the entire project.
The start of classes for Radford students was originally planned for Monday, August 15. Now, day one for pre- k , first grade and 9th grade will be Friday August 26. All other grades will return Monday August 29 and all classes will be back in session by Tuesday the 30.
Superintendent Graham told WFXR, “Our holidays aren’t changing. We will extend the school day a little but for both the elementary and high school students. So I don’t see it significantly or negatively impacting our school community.”
The more than 16 million dollar project included repairs and renovations to McHarg Elementary, including furniture, classroom upgrades, playground equipment, a new gym, and other additions.
“McHarg was built in 1955 and it needed an update and it needed a new facility or a renovation,” said Graham.
They’ve also repaired air conditioning and have been working on a storm drainage project at the high school. Its tennis court was also renovated.
Graham added, “We’re grateful to have the funding to do these projects but they’ve definitely during the pandemic have taken a lot longer than we thought.
The project was originally expected to wrap up towards the end of last year. But contractors say it was delayed about four times, mainly due to supply chain issues and labor shortages.
General Contractor with Avis Construction, Nick Phillips said, “It’s been very challenging. You got unprecedented times with the covid issues, and an abundance of materials in high demand and short distribution.”
“The price inflation has caused a lot of hurdles to get across and always dealing with a remodel there’s always a lot of unforeseen things that we’ll have to do,” said Phillips.
He says unfortunately his business anticipates a continuing problem with supply shortages but thankfully there aren’t any more expected delays for this project.
Graham said, “There’s a wow factor with McHarg right now. It’s a beautiful building. We want our children and our staff and our community members to walk into that building and say oh my goodness we’re so lucky.”
Superintendent Graham also says there will be some finishing touches being done after the first day of school but when everyone does get back, it should be about 95% finished.
Graham shares that the Division is still discussing plans for extended school days. He says at the very most it’ll be an extra 20 minutes per day for elementary school students and close to an hour during the week for secondary school students.
