Wheatland Crossing opening pushed back

Adelle Ellis
Times Reporter

 

The opening of the Wheatland Crossing School has been pushed back yet again. A new move-in date has not yet been decided.
Construction on the new rural school commenced over a year ago, and as of last December, was scheduled to open on Feb. 27, with students attending the new school on the Monday after the week-long family day and teachers’ convention break.
“We are day-to-day, week-to-week right now on what the opening day is going to be,” said Bevan Davern, Golden Hills School Division superintendent. “There are a couple things (construction crews) are still working on. We are beginning the occupancy inspection and commissioning processes in the next week.”
Nearly everything is lined up for the new school to open and furniture has been arriving. But Davern said recent weather changes and heavy snow fall have contributed slightly to the delay, as some groundwork has yet to be completed. Some systems within the school are also not complete.
For the first several months of school, regional water will not be hooked up; however, there is a sufficient backup plan in place that will work for the time being and there is a water reservoir the school will be using until regional water is hooked up. All underground work is completed, and any open holes in the ground are currently being filled in.
“We are going to be touring the school with the staff prior to Family Day. That will be the pre-work to get ready for the move,” said Davern. “Staff will be going through an orientation and we will look at specific move-in days.”
An update on the Wheatland Crossing School’s Facebook page was published on Feb. 8 stating that “as progress in our new building is nearing completion, we are excited about the upcoming move into our fantastic new location. We continue to assess progress on a weekly basis and will make decisions around final timelines that best support the learning of all of our students and communicate them as soon as they are finalized.”