Board "not sure" if school will start on schedule

Officials at Sidney Public Schools hope to complete work at the Middle School before classes begin on Aug. 18.

“We just all have our fingers crossed and hoping that school can start on schedule and not sure yet,” said Sidney Schools Superintendent Jay Ehler at Monday’s school board meeting.

The contractor replacing the windows and doors at the Middle School still plans to have the project done by the start of school, but acknowledges that it will be tough to complete in time. The contractor is guaranteeing that the windows and doors on the east side of the school, the ones currently boarded over will be replaced by the beginning of school. The window replacement workers should be in Sidney this week to begin installing those windows.

“I think it’s going to look nice,” said Middle School Principal Brandon Ross.

The contractor promised that his crew would work long hours to attempt to finish the project before the beginning of school. Although the goal is to have the window work completed by Aug. 18, it would be ideal if the work was finished by Aug. 13, when teachers come back to work, Ehler said. Even though the window contractor believes that he can finish the work before school begins, the local contractor will have to complete the finish-work after the windows are installed.

If the window work isn’t completed by the beginning of school, the school district will likely complete the work next summer.

Although heating and cooling improvements at West Elementary and the Middle School might not be completed by the start of school, they should be close enough that work finished after the start of school won’t bother students and teachers.

“They should at least be out of the classrooms with all the heating and cooling stuff,” Ehler said.

Because of all the work going on at the Middle School, some normal summer maintenance things such as floor waxing might have to wait until winter break.

“We’ll deal with it,” Ehler said. “It’s going to be good when it’s done. We hope to still start school on time.”

Additional work being completed at Sidney Public Schools this summer includes roofing projects at Central Elementary and the Middle School. This includes work on the roof above Central Elementary’s gymnasium as well as above the Middle School media center and band room.

The school district initially planned for all construction on the schools to be done by Aug. 1, but issues with getting the windows for the Middle School delayed the work there.

The school also announced its decision to install video cameras in school parking lots, as well as a new way to download video footage from bus cameras at Monday’s school board meeting. In this new system, in place of using memory cards to store the video which quickly run out of space and are easily corrupted, there would be a server at West Elementary to which bus camera video would automatically download when the bus pulls in. This would allow principals to more easily view videos of students having disciplinary issues on the bus.

The school board’s goals for the 2014-2015 school year include bolstering technology access for teachers and students, continuing to work for a new elementary school, staying on track with the newest trends in 21st Century Education and developing a multi-year training and mentoring program to supplement the culture of excellence in Sidney Public Schools. The school board announced these goals on Monday.