SYLACAUGA — The lazy days of summer are drawing to a close for students in the city school system, and when they show up for classes on Aug. 3, they will be in for a few changes. Considering all the time, effort and money spent on construction and maintenance projects this summer, the most obvious changes will likely be the cosmetic ones.
At Indian Valley Elementary School, students will find a $471,900 roofing project still under way. The Board of Education decided on this project at a special called meeting in early June.
At that time, Superintendent Jane Cobia described the condition of the roof as dismal and said that, because it was flat, puddles of water were always forming after rains, causing incessant leaking problems.
"It holds water," she said after the June meeting. "There are puddles there after several days of sunlight.
"My concern is for structural damage in the long run."
The school is now in the process of being fitted with a sloping roof.
Most of the heavy, noisy construction has been completed, but there is still some work to be done. The school is still waiting on the contractor, Central Alabama Metal and Roofing, to receive the parts and get them in place.
That is not expected to happen until September, but Cobia said the remaining construction work would likely not cause any disturbance of classes.
Due to a lack of instructional space at Pinecrest Elementary, a portable building, which had previously been used for storage, was renovated for use by classes of gifted students.
Cobia said work on the building was almost complete. The building has been carpeted, painted and furnished, leaving only some minor electrical work to be done. After that, the fire inspector will walk through the building to make sure it is safe for students and teachers.
In addition to the planned projects, the recent thunderstorm forced the school system to deal with some last minute maintenance problems.
"We took a lot of lightning strikes on Wednesday," Cobia said.
"It was an act of God, and it’s one of those things you have to deal with."
She said "every school was affected" by the lightning, which caused electrical problems and still-unresolved problems with the computers.
All the computer labs may not be operating by Wednesday, but that certainly won’t postpone the opening of schools.
"It’s just been a busy summer trying to do the maintenance and construction," Cobia said.
However, there was a purpose.
"We hope it will be a very positive learning environment," she said.
A lot of effort has gone into the construction projects, but Cobia said the system "will be more diligently looking at the safety of the students."
This year, every employee of the system will be required to wear a photo identification card — allowing administrators to tell who is supposed to be at the school and who is not.
More attention will also be concentrated on the system’s Step Up program for struggling students in grades seven through nine.
"Whether it’s because of behavior problems or illness, this basically is a time for them to catch up with their peers," Cobia said.
To improve the program, students will be placed in smaller groups to give more one-on-one time to those who need it. There will also be updated software and different teaching techniques to assist these students.
