HUNTINGBURG, IN (WFIE) -
Students at Southridge High School won't be moving into many of their new classrooms until the end of October.
Construction's taking longer than expected, forcing school officials to continue to use temporary classrooms for much of the semester.
Superintendent Terry Enlow says they had hoped to finish construction by the start of the 2012-2013 school year but now, they're again planning to use temporary classrooms.
"One day I might make an announcement that you can't go to this area," said Southridge High Principal Mike Eineman.
Eineman says many of the students are used to picking their way around construction to get to class as crews work to update and revamp the high school.
"They'll have a little bit of a longer walk because our science area will be under construction now at the start of the year and they'll have to walk out to what we call the temporary classrooms," Eineman said.
Some of the new classrooms will be used. The English wing of the building is nearly complete, but the business and science classrooms, as well as the new media center, will not be finished until the end of October.
Enlow says there is a big reason construction is behind schedule.
"I think the issues of just trying to maintain school while we are renovating is difficult in itself. So last year the whole process was moving students into a transition building, moving them from one place to another," Enlow said.
Enlow says they've known all along the construction could run long and there wasn't extra funding to offer crews an incentive for finishing early. He says at one point they had considered delaying the first day of school, but they eventually decided against that.
"If you look around you can see that two week is not going to make a big difference for what it would take," Enlow said.
School will begin on August 8th as planned.
The students will be housed in temporary classrooms until the new wings of the school are completed, but Enlow says afterwards the space will still be used. It will become a fieldhouse for athletics, along with locker rooms and an indoor track.
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The construction is forcing school officials to continue to use temporary classrooms for much of the semester.
