It was an exciting day for the future of the West Holmes Local School District as the community turned out in large numbers to celebrate the opening of the new West Holmes Elementary School.
Superintendent Eric Jurkovic welcomed the crowd Wednesday and shared a brief recap of the process to consolidate the four West Holmes elementary schools of Millersburg, Killbuck, Nashville and Lakeville into one West Holmes elementary school.
This process began about two years ago and the superintendent, board members and people across the district were excited to see the next step in the process.
“It’s very exciting. This has been a long discussion and design process,” Jurkovic said. “It’s finally time to start cleaning up the dirt and getting everything up and running. This is an exciting time for West Holmes to move forward and get everyone here. It’s already a great atmosphere.”
Building will meet the needs of children in the neighborhood
School board president Pat Sage agreed.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m really excited about this building,” Sage said. “It’s an exciting day for us. Many people have wanted this school for a long time. I want to thank everyone who was involved in every meeting in discussing a new school. It was good to hear the opinions, concerns and positive comments that were expressed.”
She said the building will meet the needs of the district’s children.
Meghan Boals, a third-year teacher in the district, is not only excited about the opportunity to work and teach in a new building, but also what it will mean for her children.
“I’m so excited,” Boals said. “I think it will be great to see them all together. I hope this helps bring the kids together as a community.”
Nicole Demlinger, another mother of elementary school children, is also grateful.
“It will create so many more opportunities for them,” she said.
Completion of the $40 million project scheduled for fall 2026, but could take longer
The project’s target completion date is fall 2026, but the superintendent believes it will possibly take longer due to supply chain, weather and other potential issues along the way.
“Hopefully in the next week or two they will start moving this hill,” he said. “They will end up moving around 300 thousand tons of earth. They want to try to get the block out before winter sets in so they can get it under their roof. could be behind.”
Adena Corporation of Mansfield is the general contractor for the project, which is expected to cost about $40 million.
Senior Vice President Dwight Farmer hopes residents can see the steel starting to come out of the ground in the spring and dry out next fall and winter, and work on finishing around the clock.
Jurkovic noted that it will be a bonus for construction to take place away from other schools so there will be no disruption to instruction while construction is underway.
The superintendent added that there has been some general discussion about what will happen to the existing buildings, but they are a long way from making any decisions.
This article originally appeared in The Daily Record: West Holmes Begins Construction on K-5 Building on Middle School Site
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