Construction ahead of schedule at Chicora Elementary
Construction continues at Chicora Elementary School, which sometimes disrupts students in the building, but they don’t seem to mind.
Eric Ritzert, superintendent of Karns City Area School District, said the young children at the school enjoy seeing some of the heavy machinery in action during their school day.
“It has sort of an industrial look for the classrooms, which the students seem to appreciate,” Ritzert said. “The new cafeteria, a new kindergarten wing will be built — we hope to get some of that done before winter.”
The Karns City Area School District school board voted on a few construction change orders at a meeting Monday, Sept. 11, which Ritzert said were typical for this point in construction.
The elementary school is getting a new wing complete with 12 classrooms, as well as a new cafeteria and kitchen area. The school will have 35 classrooms when completed, not including specialized rooms, allowing for the consolidation of Chicora and Sugarcreek elementary schools.
Ritzert said construction is ahead of schedule for now, but the progress on the building work could change at any time. Still, he said he is optimistic about the building being completed on time.
“In some ways, aspects are slightly ahead of schedule with some of the masonry work about a month ahead of predicted schedule,” Ritzert said. “That hopefully will translate into an on-time project for August 2024.”
Ritzert also said most, if not all, of the district’s school bus drivers returned to work with the district again this school year.
Despite the staffing being consistent, Ritzert said there is little to no wiggle room in the transportation department.
“We have just enough,” Ritzert said of the district’s drivers. “There’s no extra people out there, but we have yet to be impacted to the lack of school drivers.”
