Skip to main content

Luverne school construction expands; many areas wrap up work this week

Lead Summary
, , , , ,
By
Mavis Fodness

With no students or staff in the Luverne Middle-High School building for the past six weeks, construction workers are completing and starting projects sooner than expected.
District personnel will move back into offices on the newly remodeled first floor of the west wing next week.
The first floor west wing also includes new counselor suites/athletic offices, a portion of the new school kitchen and the new middle/high school principal offices.
Superintendent Craig Oftedahl updated board members April 23 on the building improvement project that began 13 months ago.
“Something positive has come out of our situation; we were able to get into the south wing a little earlier,” he said.
“That will be something that will help us moving forward and hopefully get us back to school — if we are back in school in the fall. We hope to have those areas done and ready to go for our students and staff.”
Luverne Public Schools has been operating under a distance learning plan since the state ordered schools closed March 18 to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Since March 30, and now through the rest of the 2019-20 school year ending in May, the virtual classroom instruction will continue.
Construction has resumed on the new commons and performing arts center between the secondary and elementary buildings.
Work between the buildings was limited due to the winter weather and stopped in January when engineers discovered ground under the concrete footings might have been compromised.
Tests revealed soils around and under some of the footings were soft and wet, and the footings didn’t appear to have good contact with the ground.
Contractors are still working on a solution.
“We are hopefully going to get more direction. We are waiting for some more ground to dry out,” Oftedahl said. “We are getting some second opinions on the ground and the compaction.”
Construction of the commons and performing arts center is expected to take 10 months to complete.
In the meantime, worker numbers at the school site have increased throughout the building with more areas currently under construction.
With the April 23 announcement that students and staff won’t be returning to the school building in May, both floors of the building’s north and south wings are in various stages of construction and remodeling.
The $30 million project is expected to be complete by August 2021.

You must log in to continue reading. Log in or subscribe today.