LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Wednesday is the start of classes for Jefferson County Public Schools, but one group of students will not be in the building they were originally promised.
Teachers and staff at Wilkerson Elementary say they got the bad news just a week before the start of school. Their brand new building, currently under construction, wasn’t finished. The building failed to pass a Louisville Metro government building inspection, and can’t open.
This meant teachers like Justin Young had to pivot and set up shop inside nearby Watson Lane Elementary, which was reopened by JCPS after closing at the end of last year. The students who went there were to merge with those from Wilkerson in the new elementary school.
“They were expecting to be at the other building to start the year off so they had to temper their expectations,” Young, who teaches fifth grade, said.
But while this place may not be state-of-the-art, teachers like Mr. Young have still put everything into getting it ready for their students.
“You know what you see now out in the hallways, the bulletin boards, inside the classrooms, it did not look like that,” Young said. “This is still their school year, so we are trying to make this as seamless as possible for them, just because at the end of the day they need to come to school, they need to learn and get the most out of this year that they can.”
Wilkerson Elementary Principal Sara Alvey says they are ready to go with starting the year at Watson Lane.
Alvey explains there is more than enough room for their nearly 550 students as previously the school operated well below maximum capacity. She said they have cleaned everything from top to bottom and the air conditioning is fixed.
“We have no concerns at all, we know that we can hold our kids like I said we had hundreds in last night for our meet the teacher, we have a safe area for all instruction and learning so I have no concerns about this building,” Alvey said.
Since last Thursday, teachers and staff have worked nonstop to get this place ready to go. This building, which was no longer meant to be used, looks and feels like any other school in the district.
“We had our family members and our friends come and help decorate, get the rooms ready, and it’s all come together beautifully,” Jennifer McDonough, a speech pathologist for Wilkerson Elementary, said.
So while this may not be the way everyone wanted to start the school year, there is still hope to soon move into somewhere much better.
“It doesn’t happen often that you get a new learning space and that you get a space that has never been occupied before. It’s like a new house, right?” Alvey said.
Still, it is not clear when construction on the new Wilkerson Elementary will be complete or will the switch over can happen.
Along with Wilkerson Elementary, JCPS currently has two other buildings currently under construction, Echo Trail Middle School and a new elementary school on West Broadway.