WINSIDE, Neb. -- Winside Public Schools is making progress on its multi-year construction project as they prepare to welcome their students back this week to start the school year. 

Superintendent Andrew Offner said that this process has been a learning experience, but is pleased with the timeline, so far, as it remains on schedule. 

He said that the word chosen to describe this coming school year is "flexible."

The project will include renovations to the schools, but will also include add-on spaces that are currently under construction. 

The construction will affect the flow of traffic during school hours. 

"Usually this is a two-way street out front, and now it's just a one-way where they'll come up on Whitten Street, and come down this way and drop the junior high and high school kids off at the gym,” said Offner. “That's the main entrance to the high school, which is really weird, you're going to have to walk through the gym and then elementary students will be dropped off over here south side of the elementary." 

Over the next several months construction will focus on enclosing the masonry on the new buildings by the end of the year to move work inside during the winter. 

Offner said that construction will not cause any major inconveniences to learning hours, as outside noise will be minimal.

The biggest expected disruption will be temporary classroom displacement. 

"They're going to be putting in a fire suppression system, so fire sprinklers and all new lighting is going into every room in the district or the buildings, and they might ask, 'Hey, can we have that room for today, so we can do this?'” said Offner. “So, we might have to move those students out of a particular classroom for a day or two. So, we have to be open to help them on that."  

The new add-on space, which will connect the elementary school to the high school will include a new bathroom, a new library, a storm shelter to withstand an F-5 tornado and more.

Renovations will also create a new preschool area, classrooms to accommodate more students and more. 

The only renovation completed thus far has been a replaced pipe through a hallway connected to the new building, with the remaining renovations waiting to be completed once the add-ons are completed. 

"There'll be appropriate spaces for meeting with kids, like if they need testing or they need to meet with whoever, there'll be a space for them instead of trying to put them in an area,” said Offner. So, it'll be very beneficial, and obviously, the upgrades to the building, our technology will be pretty good, camera systems all that will be upgraded, and this will be very beneficial to the students just to be in an area that they can actually be educated."  

Offner said that after a long process, everyone from faculty to students is excited for construction to finally be underway. 

The entire project's completion is expected to be June 2025.