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WORTHINGTON — Road construction intended to improve safety for children and ease traffic near Worthington Middle School and the Intermediate School should be complete before the 2022-23 school year begins, the Operations Committee of the District 518 Board of Education learned at its Tuesday meeting.
Previous issues with traffic and student safety led the school to place adult crossing guards at the intersection of Crailsheim Road, also known as Nobles County 10, and Oxford Street, also known as Nobles County 35. Crossing guards also helped students cross Crailsheim Road at another location a little farther south.
The Nobles County Public Works department intends to add turn lanes on Crailsheim at the entrance of the Intermediate School to facilitate right and left turns. At the intersection near the middle school, they’ll work on turn lanes as well as the shoulder of the road.
“They’re really trying to solve the issue of people parking on the shoulder,” said Superintendent John Landgaard.
The committee also received updates on many of the school’s ongoing construction projects.
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Work on the Intermediate School is progressing, with work on the gym floor, said Dave Skog, District 518’s director of management services. He hoped occupancy could be turned over to the school around Memorial Day. The playground was supposed to go in this week and outdoor landscaping will begin in another week, he added.
Workers are laying brick at the Community Education building and about half of its roof is done, Skog said, and the special education playground at Prairie Elementary is about 95% installed.
“We might get a week’s worth of use before the end of the year, and of course they can have it for summer school,” he added.
HVAC units will arrive later than expected, including a chiller that will arrive next spring as well as high school units that won’t come in until late August or September, leaving officials trying to work out a way to install them when school is in session.
“They’re willing to work nights and weekends, but once you take the unit off, you lose your cooling,” Skog said. “So we have to solve that issue first.”
A planned remodeling project for the WHS special education space was put on hold after bids came in unexpectedly high and were rejected. The school is going to speak with some local contractors about alternatives for the space that would be less expensive.
