RAYTOWN, Mo. — School is still out for the summer but work is well underway in the classrooms of several Raytown schools.
After getting a late start on construction, contractors are hoping renovations will be completed before the first school bell later this month.
For the third summer in a row, renovations were underway Three Trails Preschool.
“It looked like a building from the 1950s, and it wasn’t in the best condition, it hadn’t been used in a few years when we took it over,” Travis Hux, Raytown Quality Schools assistant superintendent, said.
Many other projects are taking place at other schools in the district after a $53 million bond issue passed in April.
“This year, we spent nearly $14 million on projects in 10 locations," Hux said. "Previous to that, my biggest year of expense might be $6 million at 5 locations."
With so many projects, contractors told 41 Action News they are coming down to the wire.
“It’s been a little bit more of a challenge with the less time, but you know, where there’s a will, there’s a way and if you get a good plan and you work as a team, you can get it done,” Lori Davey of Bruner Construction said.
Snow days kept kids in school longer than usual, and delayed the start of construction. Bruner Construction is leading many of the projects and had a major set back nearly two weeks ago when rains flooded the building.
“It was going to be hard to get this done anyway but then when that happened, we had to start over on a lot,” Hux said.
When the flooding happened, Hux said there were discussions of postponing the first day of school, or bringing in double-wide trailers to set up mobile classrooms for students.
With a couple of weeks left before the first day of school, Hux said the main projects will be completed but there will be smaller projects continuing throughout the school year.
