The Harrisburg school district will begin the new school year a week later than planned. Students were scheduled to begin the fall semester on Tuesday, August 22, but will now go back on the following Tuesday, August 29.

This is because construction taking place at the elementary and middle schools is running about three weeks longer than planned due to additional areas the needed to be fixed.

“We are remodeling several areas, including our cafeteria,” explained district superintendent Steve Combs. “We are also updating and moving several utilities housed in an area that had to be demolished.”

As work was being carried out, additional areas of concern were discovered which will add nearly three weeks to the project. 

“As with any remodeling project of older buildings, you will discover additional areas that need to be fixed,” said Combs “In our case, we had some floors dropped or had to be replaced entirely.”

Combs said the crews from Little Dixie Construction will hit their deadline, but the district will then have several in-house touchups to complete, and teachers need time to prepare their classrooms.

Like several school district in the area, Harrisburg is on a four-day schedule, meeting Tuesdays through Fridays. A weeklong delay means that four days have been added to the end of the school year in May. But Combs said administrators will still discuss additional adjustments with faculty and staff. The delayed start will not affect any breaks, such as Christmas and spring break.