Kentucky District Delays Start of School Following Construction Delays
The Hopkins County Board of Education in Madisonville, Ky., recently announced that it will push back the start date of the 2023–24 academic year based on construction delays at a new elementary school, according to local news. The district’s first day of school will move from August 9 to August 15 to accommodate construction at a replacement facility for Hanson Elementary School.
According to board members, the project was originally scheduled for completion in 2022 and has faced delays throughout the process. The school partnered with A & K Construction, who district officials say aren’t delivering what they promised, according to local news.
“You’ve put us in a position that we’re going to have to make an adjustment,” said Board Chairman Shannon Embry to A & K President Bill Boyd at a recent school board meeting.
“I am praying and hoping that you are a man true to your word,” said Superintendent Amy Smith to Boyd at the same meeting. “[I’m praying] that that date of completion will not be moved and we can look at our community and welcome our babies into their schools on August 15.”
Smith also said that Boyd has promised that the school’s interior will be completed by July 27 and other site work—like bus and car lanes—by August 7.
Smith also clarified that the purpose of moving the date was not to give the construction company additional leeway, but to give school staff the time to set up their classrooms properly before students arrive.
”We have based our decisions on the deadlines they’ve given us,” Smith said. “We are not the ones that are completing the construction. We rely on them—the experts—to be able to be able to do that and to give us a date and live by that.”
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Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at mjones@1105media.com.