Heavy rain pushes back opening of elementary school in Virginia

Aug. 1, 2017

The Henry County Board decides that Meadow View will open in August 2018 instead of January.

Heavy rainfall has forced the Henry County (Va.) district to delay the opening of a new elementary school by several months.

WDBJ-TV reports the school board has decided to put off the opening of Meadow View Elementary School until August 2018. It had been set to open in January.

This is the second delay in the construction schedule. When it began planning construction, Henry County initially had sought to open the campus this week, but last year the board delayed the opening until January 2018 because of budgeting issues related to unexpectedly high bids on the project.

The $21 million campus is under construction in the Collinsville area of Henry County. It is being built for a capacity of 700 students in grades prekindergarten to five and has the flexibility for expansion to accommodate 850 students.

“The amount of rain that fell on the site during the months of April and May - a total of approximately 16 inches – dramatically impacted the ability to complete site work as planned,” says Keith Scott, the district's director of facilities maintenance. "Unless the weather is perfect from here until December, the schedule would be too tight for a January opening."

Superintendent Jared Cotton says a fall opening will give the district additional time to plan bus routes and teacher transitions, as well as give the students and parents time to visit the school and become comfortable with the layout before classes begin.

"We look forward to hosting events in the space this spring and providing time for the teachers to collaborate to make the opening one that will be exciting and memorable for the entire school community," says Cotton.