Jackson Heights board breaks ground on building additions

"We’re finally cooking with some gas out there.”

That was Jackson Heights USD 335 Superintendent Jim Howard’s assessment of the progress being made on the new school building additions at Monday’s Jackson Heights Board of Education meeting, following the ceremonial turning of dirt on the new additions earlier in the meeting.

Representatives of the Civium Architects firm of Topeka, which is serving as expansion project architect, and BHS Construction of Manhattan, hired by the district as “construction manager at-risk” on the project, were on hand to watch members of the board don hard hats for ceremonial groundbreaking on the project, which is expected to be completed by summer 2027.

During the meeting, Howard also provided board members with updates on the project’s construction, made possible by a $5 million bond issue approved by district patrons at last November’s general election, including a temporary access road put in place for construction vehicles, removal of dirt from the construction site and issues with a neighboring residential property.

Fences have been installed to keep elementary students from wandering onto the construction site, although Howard noted the interest of students in the construction process, as well as the willingness of construction workers to explain to students what they were doing, whenever possible. Construction workers have also been careful to minimize the relocation of playground equipment to facilitate their work, he added.

As for the removal of fill dirt created for the temporary access road, Howard said construction workers will put “as much as they can” behind the visitors’ bleachers at the Jackson Heights High School football field as an erosion control measure at no extra cost to the district.

Howard also reported on conversations with the owner of residential property and land located due south of the elementary school along Q Road, reporting that the owner did not have a problem with removal of a tree on the property line if that removal becomes necessary to facilitate construction work.

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