NewsWest 9
The school bell is one of the many sounds of school, but lately the sounds of construction are joining the chorus at Nimitz and Hood Junior High.
"Construction started right as last school year ended and we've got them going now and you can see they're making some pretty good progress on those," ECISD Communications Director, Mike Adkins, said.
The district set aside more than $5 million to improve both schools kitchens and cafeterias. Construction began at the end of last school year and is expected to be complete before the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.
So far, teachers, students and parents are learning to work around the construction.
"We've had some adjustments to be made with our parents getting used to picking up our students over in the parking lot," Nimitz Junior High Principal, Robin Fawcett, said. "As far as classrooms go, we haven't had any problems with the classrooms. The teachers have prepped the kids wonderfully and they know there's going to be some noise, but they keep going on and carrying on with their education."
Fawcett says the promise of more room extra lunch lines and a la carte dining makes the inconveniences worth it.
"We'll end up getting three more lunch lines and a larger variety of foods will be offered to them," Fawcett said. "So that excites them."
"The goal is to serve the kids better and expand their options at lunch time," Adkins said.
The possibility of five new classrooms for Nimitz Junior High also helps.
"The favorite part of mine is that I'll get five new classrooms," Fawcett said. "My teachers who are in portables will be able to be inside the building."
