Nearly 400 students at Yost Elementary School in Porter, Indiana, will kick off the school year later this month in a freshly completed $22 million school.
The Gary Post-Tribune reports that students spent last year in the K-4, 26-classroom wing of the school, but its cafeteria, gymnasium, media center, STEM lab and art rooms were still under construction.
Officials in the Duneland district had planned to relocate students while the new school was being built, but later found a solution that didn’t displace the students.
About 80 students in white Yost T-shirts participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week at the school, which sits by the footprint of the old 1950-built school.
Principal Josh Huwig said the district opted to provide minimal disruption for students during construction, which began in 2022. Students remained in the old Yost building while workers built the academic wing and then moved to the new wing after it was completed last year.
The original building was demolished last summer as construction began on the final phase.
The new school is part of the Duneland district's $171 million capital projects plan, financed with a bond issue.
It includes the expansion of Liberty and Westchester schools to accommodate grades 5 to 8.
