Crews have started work on the Greene County Middle School conversion project in Jefferson ahead of schedule.

Greene County Schools Superintendent Tim Christensen says with COVID-19 shutting down all school buildings since mid-March, the project to convert the current high school into the middle school was able to begin one month sooner than scheduled. Christensen notes the over $4 million project involves multiple phases for the contractor, Henkel Construction, to undergo. 

The District’s Owner Representative Sam Harding says crews have removed all of the ceiling tiles and are installing a new sprinkler system and soon there will be a new air conditioning unit installed for the southern classrooms. Harding believes once that phase is done, all of the buildings in the district, including the elementary and the new high school will be air conditioned. He points out an issue with one component of the project that’s been impacted by COVID-19.

“Some concerns that the heating units themselves are not due until right at the end of August, just because of COVID(-19) slow downs at the factories. So we might have everything done and just not have any air moving in there for a week or two until they get all of that hooked up.”

Christensen says having an extra month to do the work will not push up the timeline of when students will be in the building, which is after Labor Day. Payment for the project is from the future proceeds of the Secure an Advance Vision for Education (SAVE) fund.