Two Weber County schools may not open in time for upcoming school year
Jul 23, 2024, 5:00 AM
An image of Haven Bay elementary school, still under construction. (Weber School District)
(Weber School District)
OGDEN, Utah — Two new Weber County schools may not open in time for the start of the school year.
Back in 2021, voters approved a $279 million bond to build three new schools in the Weber School district. Those schools are West Field High School, Haven Bay Elementary and Mountain View Junior High. Mountain View Junior high will be ready to go for the upcoming school year.
However, West Field High School and Haven Bay Elementary, both in western Weber County, are still in the construction phase. They are set to open next month, but inflation, pandemic-era shortages and weather have both schools running behind.
“There’s still going to be a lot of finished work taking place, installation of TV screens, technology, landscaping,” said Lane Findley with the Weber School District. A Weber School District press release says that they’ve also been denied access to storm drain areas, experienced cement shortages and supply-chain issues involving steel and rooftop units.
“These delays have resulted in a tight construction schedule,” the press release said.
Findley says they’re hopeful that the schools will be up and running by August 21, the start of the school year. But, they want to be prepared.
“We have to be realistic about it as well. It’s going to be really tight. If we can’t open… Then we’ve got to have some contingency plans as far as adjusting to the start of school.”
Their first contingency plan is to delay the first day of school. The press release states that would be no later than September 3.
The second plan is to delay the first day of school to September 3 as well, but start the school year virtually.
KSL NewsRadio’s Emma Keddington contributed to this article.
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