Highland Springs kids face last-minute changes with school not ready
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Parents of Highland Springs Middle School students won’t know until Monday whether the new school will be ready when the school year starts Tuesday.
The answer to whether it will be open or not will come on Monday evening after the reinspection.
If the school isn’t ready, students will start the year virtually.
The virtual plan scraps a detailed contingency plan that would have sent kids to other schools temporarily.
The principal says she expects the school to open on time, but students could go virtual for a week if the school isn’t ready.
Watch below to see our full interviews with officials.
Highland Springs was supposed to open for the new school year, but construction is running behind schedule.
State inspectors visited the campus late last week.
Around this time of year, just six weeks out from the start of a new school year, students are usually enjoying the rest of their summer break while parents are prepping for the year ahead.
But with so much uncertainty questions still linger.
The school district reassures parents Highland Springs is only days away from being ready after years in the making.
“We got the release last week for adults to be in the building. We haven’t gotten that release for students,” said Superintendent King Laurence.
The finishing touches range from new books to outdoor construction.
“We have 10,000 new titles for our media center that were delivered yesterday,” said Principal Paige Day.
Even with all the excitement, parents and students are still concerned, given such a short timeline.
The school district says if they reinspection or not, they have it all under control.
“We always plan for the worst, but we anticipate the best. And we expect students to be in school Tuesday morning,” said Laurence.
For parents, communication is one of their biggest concerns and Principal Day says it’s her priority to ease those concerns.
“Communication is of foremost importance because these are their children and they want to be informed and they want to be engaged and they want to be a part of what we have going on here at Highland Springs and so I’m very aware of that,” she said.
Until they know what the future holds, the school district says they’re focusing on the positive, celebrating the highly anticipated opening of the new school.
“Nothing about this is ideal. Well, there’s one thing about this that’s ideal. Our students are getting a brand new school,” said Laurence.
On Monday, students will be able to pick up their laptops for the school year at North Augusta High School from noon to 6 p.m.
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