Except for the kitchen, The DeKalb West School addition, with the exception of the kitchen, will be ready for the start of school if everything continues as planned. The kitchen is expected to be finished by Aug. 22, and students will be served sack lunches until then.

David Brown of Kaatz, Binkley, Jones & Morris Architects and Levi Bouton of J. Cumby Construction addressed the school board at last week’s regular meeting, giving members an update on progress at the school.

"This is the definition of the home stretch. The next couple of weeks are going to be exciting, " Brown told the board. "We are scheduled to do our punch list of the classroom addition and the cafeteria on the same date as the state fire marshal is going to be there to do an inspection. After that, we will have arrived at the stage called substantial completion. That means that you can use the building for the purpose that it was designed for. You can move in. You can start using it as classrooms. In new construction, that's the date when utilities are turned over to your name from the contractor's name. That's the date the one year warranty starts and your clock starts on most of your warranty work. We will do the punch list. Each item on the list will be addressed and then we'll start getting the closeout documents. All of the focus will then shift over to getting the kitchen wrapped up."

"We are just a couple of weeks away from the substantial completion," Bouton shared. "Immediate hurdles that we have are that the kitchen is not going to be complete at substantial completion. But the new addition and the cafeteria will be able to be turned over at that point. The exterior of the building which includes all the grade work, the site work, and the additional underground drainage that was added to the project, we're anticipating that being done by mid August."

"Do you feel really confident that we will be in that building at the beginning of school?" asked Director of Schools Mark Willoughby.

"Yes sir," Bouton replied. "The cooler and the freezer have been installed, but the remainder of all the kitchen equipment is in storage. We've just got to say go. I don't want it there just yet. It is not presentable for that yet."

School Nutrition Supervisor Stephanie Dyer said that serving sack lunches should be no problem until the kitchen is finished.

"As far as feeding the children, we will continue what we were doing prior to school being out with our sack lunches. The kids really did enjoy that. We were able to give them a different variety of sandwiches, and that worked fine so for two or three weeks, it should not be a problem. My main concern was making sure the cafeteria was completed so they have a place to eat and for us to serve." said Dyer.

The project at DWS includes eight new classrooms, seven of which can double as tornado shelters, a new secure entrance, a new office, a clinic, a conference room, a new larger kitchen and an enlarged cafeteria.

Meanwhile, Willoughby announced that several teachers, including the band director at DCHS, have turned in their resignations.

In his monthly personnel report, the director said the following employees have resigned:

Jonathon Wright, DCHS band director, Audra Stangenberg, a special education teacher at SES, Samantha Murphy, a DMS teacher, Brittany Allen, a DCHS teacher, Lindsey Holmes, a teacher at SES, Nicole Green, a teacher at DCHS, Mary Ann Blair, a teacher at NES and long-time bus driver Walter Phillips has retired from the road.